


do not stand at my grave and weep

by Dessmina



Series: do not stand at my grave and weep [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Canon What Canon, Canonical Character Death, Depression, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Panic Attacks, Wordcount: 30.000-50.000, i have many footnotes bc i cant shut up and i need to share all the stuff with you, i make up my own timeline, im not certain what things to tag so if you think anything needs tagging pls tell me so
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-01-15 20:08:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 31,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21258932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dessmina/pseuds/Dessmina
Summary: George Weasley could not bear to look into the mirror.He felt lost. Hollow. Empty. A part of him was gone. In one moment, his brother was next to him, throwing jokes and gearing up for the battle; in the next he was kneeling on the floor, hugging the cold, dead body of-They both knew that there would be casualties. That there would be deaths. They never thought it would be one of them.ORHow George starts picking himself up and becomes Skull





	1. Part I: Existing I

George Weasley could not bear to look into the mirror.

He felt lost. Hollow. Empty. A part of him was gone. In one moment, his brother was next to him, throwing jokes and gearing up for the battle; in the next he was kneeling on the floor, hugging the cold, dead body of-

They both knew that there would be casualties. That there would be deaths. They never thought it would be one of them.

To think that they both wouldn't survive or that they wouldn't die together was unimaginable. That one of them died whilst the other had to try his best to go on without the other part of their _soul_-

It was unthinkable. Impossible and far out of realm of possibilities for them.

And yet, here was George, gaze averted from the mirror.

His eyes close, lips twisted in contempt as he tries to forget the silence and the lack of warmth next to him.

* * *

He managed to glimpse himself in the mirror once. And he saw ginger hair framing a freckled face and for a second, he thought he was seeing Fr-him. But he noticed the mangled ear and he remembered that his twin was not here and he was alone for the first in his life because they always had each other and now-

He comes to with a bloody hand and dried tear tracks. His mum crouched next to him, her own eyes glazed over with tears. She was trying her hardest to stop her bottom lip from wobbling as she gently gathered up his hands. The glass shards from the mirror were scattered on the bathroom floor, some of them were covered in his blood.

He couldn't bring himself to care about that.

The rest of his family walked on eggshells around him – apart from Ginny and Ron. That's not to say that they acted the same as before. They were more conscious, more understanding of him. They understood why he would sometimes jump at the slightest sound. They knew how to help him through the flashbacks.

His parents also knew this from the first war, but they were stuck. They were stuck in that they couldn't imagine their own son having flashbacks that their friends and war veterans suffered from. And they did know how to help him from a flashback, but George always saw this flash in their eyes, a flash of helplessness and the certainty that they somehow failed as parents. Bill and Charlie had some knowledge from the war when they were little, but it did not help them now, with their younger siblings fallen to pieces and slowly trying to pick them up. And Percy-

George knew that Percy blamed himself. Could see it in how Percy avoided him, eyes averted whenever they met. And for a time (for a few gruelling _weeks_), George blamed him the most as well. If F-he wasn't distracted by Percy's joke, by Percy being there then maybe, maybe he would be here next to George rather than-. But now, he just had no energy. What was the point in blaming Percy? It's not like it would do anything, achieve anything. In the end it was no one's fault apart from the other side that murdered Fr-

It was the fault of the other side. And it didn't change the fact that he was de-_gone_. What was the point in blaming. What was the point in anything.

He didn't comfort his parents. He didn't tell Percy that he didn't blame him. He was just so tired.

So, when Ron barged into his room, George glanced over at him tiredly, before focusing his gaze back to the ceiling with its' charmed sky, the clouds drifting along with no distinguishable shapes amongst them. What was the point, he wondered again. He could see Ron frown in the corner of his eye.

"Oi, you gonna get up yet?" George didn't even bother looking at him. "It's already past noon and you're just laying in bed? C'mon, we have stuff to do," Ron huffed at him and George stared at him in astonishment, since when did he have stuff to do? Ron's frown became heavier.

"C'mon then, you big lump!"

And that was the beginning.

* * *

Ron dragged him to help rebuilding efforts of-

Well, the entire wizarding world. Many places had been damaged – some beyond repair. Some needed curse breakers to be sorted out. Others were torn down to be rebuilt.

"Quite a lot of people are sorting out Hogwarts," Ron was telling him, absentmindedly clearing the rubble with a wave of his wand. "But we – you know, me, Harry, Hermione and a few others - thought you'd appreciate helping somewhere else," 'somewhere where you didn't see your twin die' went unspoken, but heard.

From where he was clearing an office, George couldn't help, but be grateful for Ron and his help.

And so, George started helping to re-build the Ministry of Magic and if he felt a spark of glee at burning Umbridge's horrible office well-

It was a good to feel something again.

* * *

"Does it hurt?" It sounds loud, too loud in the quiet living room. Harry freezes from where he's sat on the couch. He then glances up from his papers, glasses askew and the sun shining from the window onto him.

"What does?" Harry's brows furrow, but the question sounds stiff, as though he already knows what George will say. George avoids his gaze.

"Dying." 

Harry exhales sharply and George can feel his gaze burning in the side of his neck.

"No," he pauses and George looks at him. He meets his gaze and there's something heavy, something that George cannot describe, lurking behind his eyes. And he cannot look away from that. "Not at all," the words come out softly, and like a siren's call, George is drawn to them, hanging onto each word. "Quicker and easier than falling asleep."

* * *

Ministry for Magic was rebuilt in no time with Kingsley as the minister. He heard that they had plans to pass a lot of laws in effect in the next few months.

"The wizarding world feels guilty," Hermione was telling him and Lee Jordan one summer afternoon. Law books were opened around her and there was frantic and gleeful air about her as she went on looking through them all. Some of the books had their pages rapidly flipped with magic. Others were shutting themselves shut. A lot of them had bright papers ('post-it notes' Hermione explained as though it meant anything to him) in them.

"They should," Lee commented, picking up a book and flicking through it. "The children had to fight the war that should have never happened due to cowardice whilst they sat at home, doing nothing," he shut the book and put it back, before picking up another. "But what does it have to do with passing laws?"

"Because they feel guilty, they will do their best to make it up to us, so to speak," Hermione said with a grim smile, putting a green post-it at the top of the page and a pink one near the bottom. "They will let us make laws, so we best make sure the most important ones get passed first to make sure this never happens again."

"Like laws against discrimination? And more equal rights for other creatures?" George asked and Hermione smiled triumphantly at him.

"Yes, exactly that," she said pleased with herself.

"You seem confident," George said at last.

"Audentes fortuna iuvat," _fortune favours the bold, _she said with bared teeth, and for a moment he remembered that Hermione was a vicious thing. She was the one that charmed the parchment to disfigure anyone who broke their word for DA. And that was just when she was 16 [1]. Never mind the whole SPEW thing, the war they all took part in and the death eaters she helped to capture.

If anyone could bring change about, it would be Hermione with her viciousness for justice and her steadfast loyalty.

* * *

Little by little, George started to pick up pieces of his life and to glue them together, forming a visage of a person he once was. He still could not look into the mirror, refused to. But slowly, he started getting out of his room on his own. Started to take actual bites of his food. Started to engage with his family and his friends. Started to slowly feel again, to _live_ again.

But he wanted to do more than start living. He wanted to do something.

He hasn't had motivation like this since Freddie.

And yet, his soul still _ached_.

* * *

The ministry was mostly repaired, with the rest being left to professionals to sort out the plumbing and any nasty leftover curses. And so, they moved onto cleaning Diagon Alley and the surrounding alleys of all the undesirable posters, all the cursed items (using magic or gloves to pick them up) and the rubble leftover from any fights or acts of vandalism.

It was whilst cleaning the rubble that George realised what he could do.

The Weasley Wizarding Wheezes stood steadily in the alley, smeared with rotten fruit and vegetables and plastered with the Undesirable(s) No. posters. The doors were locked shut and it was clear that the damage was only on the outside. The two animated figures of him and his brother were smashed into pieces, but that was the only thing that the death eaters managed to truly ruin. And even though he couldn't bear to look into a mirror and see his brother, even though he refused to look at pictures of himself or at the clock in the Burrow with Fred's spoon pointing at Unknown-

He felt rage at them destroying the statues, destroying something that they worked so hard on together, destroying the dream that they had-

But wasn't that what George was doing? Refusing to go back into the shop and start making? To re-open the joke shop and-

He could do so much if he opened it back up.

George looked at the broken faces of the statutes and he swore he could feel their judgement upon him.

* * *

He asked his family and friends for help. He couldn't fix it by himself and he knew that, even if asking for help felt like the most difficult thing to do. But just the thought of going into the shop where he and Freddie once were inventing, parchments full of Fred's handwriting and ideas scattered around their workroom caused an unpleasant lurch in his stomach. He hasn't been there since Fred, staying at the burrow with his family where he slept in Bill's room instead of their old room. A decision made by his family after the mirror breaking (and oh, how he remembers at the time feeling the anger shimmer low in his belly at the thought that he was no longer in control, that they were speaking over him and deciding for him what was best, that they thought "I know better than George" and moved him away from what was once theirs, and didn't they see that he needed to stay there, close to Fred and their stuff-). He still resented them for it a bit, but he knew staying there would have been worse for him in the beginning.

His family was very supportive with the joke shop. It was weird to see his mum, fluttering around, asking about his plans for the shop. A distant part of his mind couldn't help but to wish that she was like that the first time they proposed the idea.

The next day he was stood in front of the shop, Ron on his right and Charlie on his left. Lee and Angelina were behind them. All of them had their arms full of supplies and lunches ("you need some food if you're going to be working hard!" His mum said, blinking rapidly to dissipate her tears as she looked at him with hope).

He took out the key and stepped forward.

* * *

The inside was how he remembered, just how they left it, down to the half-finished display in the corner they were putting up. Walking around, George could see the dust lazily floating around as they disturbed it from its' place. In the corner, he could see the curtains move slightly, making him tense. Further investigation with wands raised and a _homenum revelio_ showed that it was not human, and upon lifting the curtains revealed Doxys[2].

"I thought we were done with Doxys," Ron scowled at the Doxys, who blew raspberries in his direction. Charlie put a restraining hand on his shoulder.

"It could be useful," Lee said, sending some bubbles in the Doxys direction with a flick of his wand. They snapped at the bubbles and when they popped, startled, their sharp teeth bared as they snarled at the bubbles. Lee turned towards George. "Didn't you experiment with their venom for the Skiving Snackboxes?"

"Yeah, we did use them for the skivvies," he said and added "but not that much, and we made sure that in the experimental stage to start with a small drop and then keep adding. Look," he said to Charlie who was giving him a look, "we made sure to have the antidote on hand and that only one of us at a time was testing it. And we didn't hurt the little buggers, just took their venom mostly," Charlie glanced away and turned towards the Doxys.

"So maybe you could try doing something else with them?" Ron said, still giving the Doxys a stink eye and redirecting the conversation.

George scratched his chin.

"But what could he do?" Lee piped up, as Angelina started passing the Doxycide around the group.

"Dunno, they managed to work out that in small doses it causes the user to be ill, I'm sure he can figure something else out," Ron then decisively sprayed one of the Doxys with the Doxycide, watching in glee as it fell.

"There are many avenues that you could research," Angelina added, as she joined Ron in paralysing the Doxys. "It doesn't necessarily have to be for consuming, maybe it has some properties on the skin or hair?" She theorised.

After that they all got to work, leaving George's mind to whirl.

* * *

He looked at the layout of the shop and decided that no, that was not going to work anymore. Charlie wasn't helping this time, Hermione having dragged him away to help draft some laws for creatures and wrangled out a promise from Lee that he would pop by later to help her more. George managed to snag Oliver Wood and Alicia Spinnet into helping though, so maybe shifting the layout of the shop wouldn't be too difficult

"Do we need to take some of the products down by hand?" Alicia asked George as Oliver and Angelina looked on in horror, as Lee looked at them in amusement.

"By hand?" Angelina said incredulously, staring at the towering walls surrounding them. George blinked at them in confusion, before a figurative lightbulb went off in his head, he turned towards the products, hiding a shadow of a grin on his face from them as he did so.

"Some of the products are sensitive to magic," and with that he pointed to the signs, 'DO NOT USE MAGIC ON THESE, AVERSE REACTIONS,' floating in mid-air on some shelves. "We had special runes in place and stuck those signs on the barriers to make sure the customers didn't try that, along with putting the warnings on the packaging in big letters," he explained.

They still looked at him in slight horror, Lee starting to put the products into boxes in the background.

"So," George said in a false cheery voice, "all the magic-aversive products have that sign along with a barrier. So, if you reach out your hand to take the object, you should feel and see a faint passing of magic as you reach out for it." And he did just that to show them. A faint rippling could be seen around his hand as it passed the barrier.

"But isn't that dangerous? They could have it in their trunks, lift them with magic and then bam, the product reacts?" Alicia asked, nervously eyeing the products.

"Well," George grimaced slightly, "that's more sensitive in terms of trying to change the shape of the products, so anything that would change the properties of the objects. Imagine some of the kids trying to change the Canary Creams so that the person changes into a dog by trying to make it look like a dog rather than a canary. Gives me nightmares that does! Lifting them by magic will not damage them, you could do it in fact. But the barrier stops all magic, including levitation. Mostly because we didn't want the kids smashing anything by accident," George explained.

Angelina sighed.

"Let's get to it then," she said, rolling up her sleeves and setting off towards the nearest shelf. The others joined her.

"Or," George began slowly, and they looked at him, "I could always power down the runes so we can use magic." In the background, Lee stared at the half full box in front of him.

"What do you mean, power down the runes? I always had to do it by hand!" He huffed, throwing his hands up, staring in betrayal at the box in front of him and at George. A small smirk lit up George's face.

"We didn't know you didn't know and then you did the first product by hand all that time ago, we didn't have the heart to tell you otherwise, you were so proud of yourself..."

Lee narrowed his eyes and then sent a stinging hex at George who quickly put up a shield to absorb it and then sent a hex of his own back in good measure.

"So, magic?" Oliver asked, waving the boxes over and George nodded, heading to the back room to power them down as Lee reflected the hex.

* * *

They worked in silence for a few hours.

"How do you plan on doing the layout?" Lee asked George from where he finished up filling one of the boxes, making a face at George as a bird made of light swooped towards him. George batted it away from his face.

"I was thinking of splitting it up slightly," he said and started gesturing at the store, the front in particular. "I was thinking I could have the left side and right front as the joke stuff, the tamer ones around the doorway," he turned to his left and then caught himself, he then quickly pointed at the right side of the store in the back as if the lapse didn't happen "and then I was thinking of making a new line of products in the top right, focusing on well-," here he trailed off a bit, but none of the others pressured him to continue, focusing on their boxes and giving him a moment to collect himself.

He took that moment and then he continued. "It's hard to ask for help from other people, and then you don't always want to admit you need it, so I thought, wouldn't it be great if there were some products that could help you with it? Hermione was telling me how when people have anxiety they can have panic attacks and problems breathing and I thought, what if I modified a bubble-head charm and add some extra stuff to help the person calm down?" Here he looked at the others, who had stopped packing away the merchandise and were staring at him with wide eyes.

"I thought it would be a good idea, to make a line of products to help people with their mental health."

There was a moment of silence and George busied himself with closing up the boxes.

"Sounds like a great idea mate!" Lee said, and George could see him reaching out slowly to give him a clap on the back, giving him time to move back. George held himself still and smiled at Lee in return. The others then surged forward, smiles on their faces and supportive words falling from their lips.

George's smile grew until his eyes crinkled up. It felt good to truly smile.

* * *

The research was not slow per se, but it wasn't fast either. It was taking George time to try and come up with some of the ideas. Usually, he would bounce the ideas of his twin and they would come up with something, a hundred ideas falling from their lips, more outrageous than the last, but now-

"Oi George!" Ron barrelled into the backroom, arms laden with papers with only his tuft of hair sticking out above them. "I have some ideas for you from 'Mione, something about Glumbumbum and Alinhesav leaves or something-"

"Glumbumble and Alihosty leaves[3]," George corrected him as Ron all but threw the papers onto the empty desk near George.

"Yeah that," he waved his hand in George's direction as he started to take off his jacket, scarf and hat. "And how it could help with depression? Something about balancing the melancholy of the insects and the hysteria induced by the leaves? I dunno, you'll have to look at the papers. Lee also told me to tell you that he should be along in a few; he had an idea for some kind of new prank product, something to do with modifying the Anteoculatia spell[4], I think. And I," he waved his wand and the jacket, scarf and hat flew to the hooks by the door. "Also came up with an interesting idea!" A moment of silence and then Ron swivelled his head to look at George.

"You alright there, mate?" He asked and George couldn't help, but smile.

"Yeah, I am. What was your idea?" Ron perked up and started gesturing wildly.

"Alright so there's a spell to repel spiders and I was thinking what if you could make it into a charm to help people not only with spider phobias but with other ones as well-"

"The spell would probably work on other insects with some modification to it-"

"Yeah, 'cos the spell is _Arania Exumai_, so if we swap _Arania_ with whatever the Latin for insect is-"

And now while there was no Fred, he still had many others willing to make their dream a reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Footnotes_  
[Skip Footnotes]  

> 
> 1 Hermione was 16 in OotP because she had her birthday in September, making her one of the oldest in the year [return]
> 
> 2 The plural of Doxy is Doxys, and not Doxies! I checked it in the 'Fantastic beasts and where to find them' and in the OotP. And yes, it does use a capital letter, flicking thought fbawtft, only a small number of beasts have their title in lower case, such as centaurs, dragons (but then the sub species are in capitals) etc. Make of that what you will. [return]
> 
> 3 Glumbumble and Alihosty leaves actually exist in canon! I think I got them from the Fantastic beasts and where to find them book (not the film). [return]
> 
> 4Anteoculatia is a hex which turns a person's hair into antlers used on Parkinson in 5th year I think.[return]
> 
> Please tell me if the footnotes are working or if you think that anything needs a footnote!
> 
> George is a bit snappy, a bit more moody because he is mourning, he is numb and some of the first emotions you feel are that of anger and guilt. It will get better (and worse and then better)
> 
> There are 4 chapters in a part, originally I planned on a) on posting one part as one chapter, but i thought it'd be easier to read in smaller segments rather than a big 9k chapter with footnotes and b) writing out the entire story before posting, but I like getting feedback and ideas from others so you know here we are. I plan on having at least 8k per part and think this story will be roughly 45k! Find me on [tumblr](https://dessmina.tumblr.com/) where I complain about chapter lengths and writing in general, also feel free to send me asks about this story and my headcanons for it!


	2. Part I: Existing II

George could hear Fred's laughter echoing around him, resonating throughout the abyss and he had to get to him, he had to find him and save him, he had to, he had to, he had to.

And he was surrounded by others and he had to get out of here, find where his twin's voice was coming from, but Professor Sprout was telling him he had to chop the walls and eat his reds, and Katie Bell had a crystal ball in her hands and she told him to crack it as Kreacher told her that George had to obviously paint it the most fluorescent colour he could think of and not break it and they kept on stopping him but he had to get to Fred before-

He could still hear Fred's laughter.

He started to wildly run in one direction, the laughter still echoing and never ending as the others started calling for him and he tried to ignore them and to focus on the laughter. It didn't get any quieter or any louder. It was just constantly there, echoing in his head and George wanted it to get louder, wanted to be able to reach it and save Fred-

A blinding light and a white noise drowned out his senses and he had to get up and see if Fred was alright-

He wakes up on his back, sweating and breathing heavily in the middle of the bed. And for a while he just breathes, fists clenching and unclenching slowly. A look outside shows a dark sky and falling snow. Just for a while, George stares at the snow, watches it fall and melt into the too warm ground. Just for a while, he just is.

He then heaves himself up from his bed, a quick _Tempus_ showing him in a dim light that it is 02:47am, as he stumbles out of his room into the bathroom, bile rising in his throat.

Today was not a good day.

* * *

One perfectly boring day, George looks at the ceiling and decides to do something about his relationship with Percy. He stares at the charmed ceiling, the clouds forming shapes that he can easily pick out and he resolves himself to have that overdue chat with Percy today.

He gets out of the bed and decisively makes his way to the room Percy was staying at. George knew that he was staying for the next two weeks and that today he had the day off. Only, he wasn't there. The bathroom was empty. The kitchen had no one. In the living room there was only his mum, knitting Christmas jumpers.

"Hey mum, have you seen Percy?" She startled and looked up with wide eyes.

"Percy?" She parroted. "Ah Percy! Well, yes, he is outside," she told him, her eyes still wide. "Near the little pond where you used to play Quidditch," she added with a smile. "Why don't you take some cocoa with you? That's always a good start," she added as two mugs floated into the room, hot chocolate quickly flowing after it and filling up the mugs, followed by a dollop of whipped cream and sprinkles of chocolate and cinnamon on top.

George picked up a jacket, a hat and a scarf and with a 'thank you' grabbed the mugs and headed outside, setting off towards where Percy was.

A quick few moments walking in the winter chill brought him to where Percy was leaning against a tree, staring out the frozen pond. His gaze was listless and tired, the bags under his eyes seemed to stand out more in the winter cold.

George beat away the beginnings of guilt for not talking to Percy sooner, he was here now and that's all that mattered.

"Percy," he said to his brother softly. Percy's head snapped up and he looked startled, and whilst the action was the same as the one their mum did not a few minutes ago, Percy looked more defensive and somewhat resigned, as though he was waiting for this moment, for George to yell at him and start blaming him for something that happened months ago and he had no control over. Blaming him for something that Percy has already accepted as his own fault. But instead of doing any of that-

"Cocoa?" He asked Percy, lifting one of the mugs towards him. And Percy blinked rapidly.

"C-Cocoa?" He parroted. "Ah, Cocoa! Yes, Cocoa that's what you- I mean- I- yes, please," he fumbled through his words and then accepted the mug. He cautiously looked at the drink in his hands, as though expecting it to come alive and do well-

George remembered very well all the pranks he and Fred pulled on him, ranging from funny to outright cruel and couldn't blame him honestly. But Percy seemed to steel himself and took a sip. When nothing happened a few moments later, he continued to sip it, in parts relieved, but also tense, as though waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"So, what are you doing outside?" George decided that maybe making small talk would help him figure out a way to start this talk, because honestly, this talk was spur of the moment and he had no idea how to say anything he wanted to. Improvisation was a strong suit of his though, he would make this work.

"Ah," Percy said quietly. "I was looking at the garden gnomes over the pond," and with that he directed his gaze towards them. And when George looked there, he could see them, burrowing themselves in the dirt. They both sipped their cocoas as they stared at the burrowing gnomes. At one point, one of the gnomes shoved another into the lake, blew a raspberry and then burrowed into the hole the previous gnome made. George couldn't see the face of the gnome that just resurfaced in the lake, but he bet he was swearing like it was going out of style.

"So," George trailed off awkwardly. He then reminded himself that he came here for a reason, that he decided that he wanted to have this talk with Percy and was he a Gryffindor or not? So, he steeled himself.

"I wanted to talk with you, 'cause we're long overdue for one and I honestly should have said it all earlier rather than leave it for months and let you-" here George stopped and took a few shuddering breaths. He looked straight into Percy's eyes which were blown wide. Just say it quick and to the point.

"I don't blame you for Fred's death," and whilst his tongue stumbled on his twin's name, he said it in the firmest tone he could muster.

Percy's breath hitched.

"I don't blame you for something that you couldn't control, no, let me finish," he told Percy firmly as he went to interrupt. "Fred's death is not your fault, 'cause you were not the one aiming to kill him. You were not the one to blow up the-" here George quickly changed his sentence "you were not the one to kill him. It is not your fault, but the fault of the death eaters and the ones who caused the explosion. And I do not blame you," Percy slid to the ground at that point, using the tree as a crutch whilst tears started to gather in his eyes. George kneeled down next to him taking the mug from his hands before it could slip. "And I know you don't wanna believe me, but I will keep on saying it until one day you believe me," at that point, George's words were staring to wobble as his eyes started to fill with tears as well.

"I do not blame you, I promise Perce," and with that Percy started sobbing, his shoulders shaking. It wasn't a pretty cry, it was loud and messy, Percy taking in great gulps of air and then chocking on them as he sobbed.

And George did something that he has not done for a long time for Percy; he hugged him.

They stayed like that for some time, both of them trying to do their best to calm themselves down.

"You know, that's not the only reason I wanted to talk to you," George admitted as they separated. Percy conjured some handkerchiefs for the two of them and passed one to George who took it gratefully.

"Is it going to be as emotionally heavy as this?" Percy asked, pressing his face into the hankie. George made an about face.

"Well, not as heavy as this, but still somewhat yeah," he said after a few seconds of thought.

"Alright," Percy detached his face from the hankie and took a deep breath. "Go on, I'm ready."

George looked straight into Percy's eyes once more.

"I wanted to apologise-" George began and before he could continue Percy cut in.

"Apologise? Whatever for?" He squawked out, looking at him in astonishment.

"For a couple of things actually," he admitted. "Could you let me say it all in full? That would make it easier," and with a nod form Percy he began.

"I would like to apologise for the way me and-and," a deep breath "F-Fr-Freddie treated you when we were younger. You didn't deserve it you know. You were just trying to make something of yourself and we just-" George waved his arm in emphasis as he made a noise of frustration, not certain how to describe what he wanted to said. "We just played pranks on you and made you feel as though you weren't part of the family? Or maybe that your achievements were not that impressive, not that important and that everything you did has been done already by someone else in the family – no Perce, let me get it all out – and we didn't want to make you feel that way, but we still did and I wanted to apologise for our thoughtless actions," George's words came rushed, tripping over one another, but they were no less sincere for it.

"And I guess," here George paused and made a slight face "I would also like to apologise for throwing those mashed potatoes – was it mashed potatoes?[5] – at you when you visited during Christmas with Scrimageour, we should have realised that you were uncomfortable, and didn't know how to broach the topic of You-Kno-Voldemort and to admit that you were wrong and so on."

"And lastly, I would like to apologise for not saying any of this sooner. We should have apologised for our treatment of you the moment you came and apologised in the Room of Requirement to us," and with that George looked at his brother.

Only for his steadfast look to turn into alarm as Percy covered his mouth and once again collapsed onto the cold ground. And as George reached out for him, he could him saying "thank you" over and over again.

Not everything was fixed, there were still some resentments, some wounds that would never heal and things that have gone unspoken, but it was a start.

It was a start.

* * *

"I didn't know you had this room," Oliver said in bewilderment, or astonishment or both, as he entered the room in question, head whipping around and eyes trying to take everything in.

"It never really came up. And it's not like we were gonna test our products in a cluttered office, or storefront full of products," George said with a shrug as he started to activate the runes on the sides. Hermione fluttered near him, looking in astonishment at the runes, her eyes sparkling as her fingers itched to make notes. "I'll give you the research we did for this later," George promised her, and for a moment she look appeased before returning to the runes.

"What are the chances these will blow up?" Lee asked, rounding up the available group for today, the prototype in his hands. George shrugged at him as Oliver started to look in alarm at Lee.

"No idea. Usually the first prototypes tend to spark up, explode or just nothing happens, we'll have to see. That is why we're here," he tapped the walls and then the glass on the wall. "This should let us see how the product is operating. We just have to send a signal and it will turn on the prototype with us safely on the other side. C'mon then," and with that he started to leave the room, the others scrambling after him as Lee put the object on the pedestal in the middle of the room.

Hermione, Lee and Oliver stood behind the glass scene as George made sure the door was locked tight and the runes were activated. They gleamed softly at him from the wall, pulsing steadily with magic and George threw a quick spell at them for a quick test. It pulsed slightly and then returned to its previous state. Good. He picked up some clipboards and passed them all one each along with a, _pencil,_ something Hermione and Lee introduced to him not long ago. Oliver looked at it in curiosity, as Lee quickly explained it to him. They filled out the basic information (_Product #095, First Test _etc.) and a few minutes later they were ready to test it.

"Remember to write anything that you see, the colour, is it moving, is the glass breaking, is the air around it moving due to the heat and so on. Anything could be important," George told the group. They all nodded at him. "Turning it on – _now!_" A spark of magic and then-

Nothing.

They waited a few seconds, but nothing happened. Lee opened his mouth and-

There was a loud bang as the prototype burst into little pieces, a black plume of smoke lifting from the middle of the pedestal. They all looked at the ruined prototype in shock. George clutched the clipboard and tried to calm his heart, tried his best to not think about the explosion to stop the flashback that he shouldn't even have because he was not there-

"Well, that went badly," Oliver said, clutching his clipboard, not bothering to write anything. Lee gave a nervous laugh and George took a steadying breath. He was fine, he was fine, _he was fine_.

"You don't say," sniped Hermione as she started to write notes on her own clipboard, staring intently at certain parts of the carnage as she did so. George decided she had the right idea and focused on the broken prototype as well.

* * *

It's his low moments and how he learns to cope with them, how to manage his low and high moods, that help him to figure out some of the items for his new line. Amongst them he has ideas from his friends and family. All the products stand proudly on the shelves whilst a display is in front of them, showing off some of their capabilities.

"So you got the bluebell flames[6] product working then?" Ron said, eyeing the said product curiously. "I remember Hermione mentioning that during the first test run it exploded."

"Yeah," George said, hefting up a box of them carefully, the words 'MAGIC REACTIVE' stamped across it. "Took up almost all of December – I was considering working on it through Christmas, but mum would have had my hide if I did – and then a good part of January as well. Turns out that we had to carve some runes into the glass before putting the flames in, to stabilise it, if I remember my notes correctly."

"But I remember Hermione keeping the flames in the jar in first year, they didn't explode then," he opened the box next to him and started shelling the jars and orbs.

"But that was a temporary flame, meant to vanish after a certain time. We wanted ones that lasted longer than a few hours along with a few extra functions, which is where the complications came into being," George explained.

Ron hummed, as he touched the turn on button for the bluebell flame product display. The flame in the hand-sized globe began to spark up. Above it text started to appear and a voice started speaking.

"'Anxiety Away' is a new product designed by WWW. To find out more about the product, please tap the display and say, 'More Information'. To learn about commands and see a demonstration of the product, please tap the display with your wand and say, 'Commands'." The text stayed up whilst the voice went quiet. Ron tapped the display and intoned "Commands."

"You have selected 'Commands'. If you wish to cancel this action, please tap the display three times. To view shape changes, please tap the display and say, 'Show Shapes'. To view a specific shape, please tap the display and say, 'Change Shape to [Shape]'. To change the colour of the flames, please tap the display and say. 'Change Colour to [Colour]'."

George watched in amusement as Ron excitedly played with 'Anxiety Away', changing the default shape to that of an otter. After a few seconds he turned towards George, the flame otter now a stag, happily prancing within the cube, the flames burning a bright blue.

"How will this help with anxiety? Sure, it is pretty and stuff, but I dunno if it would be that helpful," Ron said, as the shape of the flame changed to a dog, the flames flickering gently within it[7].

"Maybe it won't be, maybe it will," George gave a shrug. "Everyone deals with anxiety differently. Some feel the need to occupy their mind away from the anxiety, like Harry, so this product wouldn't be that helpful for him. And then others just need to relax their mind and stop thinking and focus on something else, like me." Here, George took out an 'Anxiety Away' from his pocket. With two taps from his finger, it activated, the flame turning purple and forming into an octopus. The octopus waved its' arms slowly, the flames flickering within it. "When I get overwhelmed, I can just concentrate on the flames and their movement, and it can help me get my breathing under control," he explained to Ron who listened to him avidly[8].

"And if someone wants it because it looks pretty, well, they're free to buy one," he said with a shrug, gesturing to the product description on the shelf. Ron glanced at it quickly and sure enough, he could pick out 'Whether to help you get your anxiety under wraps, or to look at the cool flames within-' scrawled in the description. Ron made an about face.

"Cool?" He asked George, who just shrugged his shoulders.

"Gin helped with the descriptions," he explained. Ron nodded.

"Sounds about right then."

* * *

"How many people will turn up you think?" Ron asked, staring bemusedly at rubber duck on display. George shrugged his shoulders from where he was hanging up the sign, 'WEASLEY WIZARDING WHEEZES GRAND RE-OPENING'.

"Quite a lot I think. They're already starting to line up outside and we don't open for another hour," George said, securing the sign and waving his arm at the door. Ron peeked a look outside and then squawked.

"That is a lot of people," he stated and George rolled his eyes. "We need a lot of people as well! We can't handle them on our own!"

"We have Lee in the back room," George waved his arm back, "Angelina is checking the merch behind you," Ron whipped around and there was Angelina, watching the two of them in amusement, "Bill promised to pop by and help for an hour or two; Gin said that she will come at 2 o'clock and take over for someone; Harry wanted to help as well, but with the whole Chosen One thingy," here both George and Ron made a face "he can't really work at the front where we need the most help honestly. I did tell him he could work in the back, hand us any merch we need to replace. Am I missing anyone?" George mused to himself.

"How come I didn't know all this," Ron scowled at him, waving the rubber duck in his hand for emphasis.

"I think you were at the ministry finally getting your apparition license," George said with another shrug, waving his wand and causing the nearby brooms to get to work, sweeping the shop one final time before opening.

Ron made a face at him. "Still could have told me, you git."

"Maybe," George sent him a smirk. "But it was funnier to see you get worked up." And with that, George disappeared into the back, Ron's loud complaints ringing in the air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Footnotes_  
[Skip Footnotes]  

> 
> 5It was not mashed potatoes but mashed turnips actually.[return]
> 
> 6Bluebell flames are an actual spell, Hermione used it in book 1 to keep them warm in winter, to set Snape's robes on fire and to scare the devil's snare? Only in the books tho, she used different spells in the films.[return]
> 
> 7The dog, stag and otter are throwbacks to the trio's patronuses. Ron is a dog, a Jack Russell Terrier, but seeing as George never knew the breed he just thinks of it as dog. The otter is Hermione's and the stag is Harry's.[return]
> 
> 8Just a quick note to again to say that everyone deals with mental health differently and what works for someone might not work for you. These are just some methods of possibly _managing_ anxiety, but they tend to not address the cause! Best course of action is to go to a therapist, get pills prescribed if you want some etc. As it is, this is like 1999 and they are wizards with not the best understanding of mental health, so most of the stuff is their experience etc.[return]
> 
> I forgot to say it in the previous chapter, but this story is entirely self-indulgent. If you think this story needs any tags or warnings or if I need to add a footnote, do tell me! I had no idea how to write the Percy scene and I've been trying to write it for ages and honestly, I'm not 100% happy with it. But what can you do? 
> 
> Find me on tumblr as [dessmina](https://dessmina.tumblr.com/) where I post my misadventures in this story and will also probably post my timeline of events and rough family tree after the story is finished (and I will finish it, even if it's the last thing that I do!). I also have a [My Stories](https://dessmina.tumblr.com/mystories) page on tumblr where there is information on my progress (such as how much of each part I have written, if I started editing the part at all, the current word count etc.)!
> 
> I will also be adding an outtakes/ideas that never came to be into this series! I will probably post the first outtake after Part I is finished! Thank you for all the kudos, bookmarks and the lovely comments from the first chapter!


	3. Part I: Existing III

"You don't like seeing yourself in the mirror, do you?" Ginny asked him one surprisingly rainy day in June. George looked up from his research papers, scattered across his bed. Ginny stood in his doorway, speculatively looking at his hair.

"More like I hate doing it," he replied dryly, watching her inspect his hair from a distance. It didn't need to be said why.

"Ever consider dyeing it?" She asked, a gleam in her eyes.

"Dyeing it?" George asked dumbfounded.

"Yeah, you know, changing the colour," she said with a shrug.

George blinked and then considered it. Ginny watched him intently.

A few minutes later George was sat on a rickety chair in Ginny's room. Ginny had a black, plastic bowl in her plastic covered hand. The other, plastic covered as well, hand was mixing the dye in the bowl.

"So what colour are going for?" He asked her, watching as she squeezed the last of a bottle into the bowl. She then threw it to the side. Looking at the bottle George could read 'sticks to all hair colours, from blonde to black! Colour guaranteed![9]'

"Purple!" she said triumphantly. She picked up the brush, had him lean his head forward and started to colour his hair. "I'm glad you agreed. I never dyed hair before," George froze at that, but Ginny was already putting dye on his hair, there was no turning back. "Usually threw a colour changing spell and those tend to melt off after a bit. But from what my roommates at Hogwarts were saying is that it was easy, and that purple would take nicely. They did say that red would take even more – being very forgivable in that it clung to everything, but-" here she made a face and waved at their ginger hair and George nodded his head in understanding before Ginny forced him still.

"I never took you for someone to dye hair," he remarked and Ginny made another face, slathering more of the dye on his hair. The smell was a bit distracting, but not awful.

"A chance to help my brother by possibly ruining his hair? Wasn't gonna pass up on that," she said smugly, tilting his head higher up. "And the way they described it, it sounded really fun."

"Just, don't leave any patches. Or if you do, make sure they look like animals, or polka dots," George said and Ginny snorted, a big grin on her face.

"I make no promises, maybe I'll leave you with ginger streaks," she teased and George laughed with her.

* * *

His hair was surprisingly soft.

"I thought it would become damaged, or the colour wouldn't take," he admitted to Ginny, staring at his new hair in the reflection. It was still hard to look into the mirror, but with the new hair colour, it was way easier. He still couldn't bear looking into it for too long, but it was better than before.

Ginny smirked at him smugly.

"That's because we are using wizarding dye, not a muggle one," she explained. "Wizarding hair dyes are way superior – at least, that's what I've heard from C-Colin and Megan. Less harsh ingredients and the magic changes the hair itself. This hair dye will last around 2 months, after that your roots will start to show." Ginny preened, "I did a great job, didn't I?"

George flicked her on the head. He then ducked as she scowled and threw a punch at him.

"Don't get a big head, lil' demon," he said as her second punch connected with his shoulder. She made a face at him.

* * *

His mum was… reluctantly accepting.

She fussed over his hair, lifting it up this way and another, muttering under her breath "first William and now Georgie", but there was an understanding in her gaze and George could tell that she was fussing and scolding halfheartedly, as she looked at his face.

He knew that she could tell that a weight has been lifted from his shoulders.

"If it makes you happy," she said at last, and kissed his cheek. Didn't stop her complaining about it once in a while, but he appreciated it nonetheless.

* * *

It was a few days later that Bill first saw his new hair.

"Go on, laugh it up," George said with a roll of his eyes, used to his friends and family's reactions to his hair by that point.

And sure enough, Bill laughed and then tousled his hair. George swatted his hand away halfheartedly with a scowl, absently fixing his hair to how it was before, sending mock glares at Bill every once in a while.

Bill watched him avidly and Geroge twitched under his gaze.

"What?" He said, words quick as he leaned away from Bill a bit. He knew that look. 

"Remember when I first came back from my curse breaking initiation?" Bill asked.

"Course I do," George said with a roll of his eyes, waiting for the bludger to drop. "How could anyone forget? You had to get a piece of jewellery for your curse breaking and to wear it at all times. Mum said that people usually went for bracelets, necklaces or the like, but you came home with a fang earring. I don't think anyone could forget that day," George said solemnly, mind flashing back to that day. Mum could get loud when she wanted to.

"She got worse when you lot said you liked it and would also pierce your ears when you were older," Bill added, lips twitching.

"Honestly, wouldn't surprise me if Harry heard her, despite being with the muggles," George admitted.

"Your hair got me to thinking," Bill started and George could tell where the conversation was going. So that was the plan. He grinned at his brother. "How about a piercing?"

"How about _piercings_?" George countered, his grin wide. Bill grinned back.

His mum was less than pleased with both of them later that day.

* * *

He doesn't remember what happened on their-_his_, it was only _his_ now- birthday. Or the anniversary of the final Battle.

He doesn't think he wants to by the haunted look in his mum's eyes.

* * *

George was starting to feel trapped. It was nothing against his family, he loved them with all his heart, but there were ghosts wherever he went. Fred and him, they were inseparable, Fred was always there when George looked and in return George was always there when Fred did the same. Always there when they needed each other and even when they didn't need one another. Always together and never apart. But now they were apart. So, all the places George loved, or the ones that brought him peace, were seeped in memories of Fred and their time together and their jokes and ideas and laughter.

No matter where he went, what he looked at, all he could think of was Fred and him not being there anymore and whywhywh-

Everyone else was moving forward and he was trapped, in memories past.

It was time he broke free.

* * *

It was Harry - small scrawny Harry, with too big clothes and broken glasses who was trying to lift his trunk up and failing, the trunk falling on his foot first time, second time before they stepped in[10], but who was now a less thin and taller and better – that provided him the first freedom.

They were both in the living room, Hermione napping on the sofa behind them as they played wizard's chess, the pieces spelled quiet. Didn't stop them from mouthing obscenities or gesturing them at each other and the board.

Harry looked at him that day, saw past his all defences that he put up and reached into his soul. Whatever he found there, seemed to make him come to a decision, like George passed a test that Harry designed just for him.

"George," a slight twitch from him, that George could tell Harry noticed but decided not to comment on.

"Hmm, yeah?"

"Do you know how to ride a motorcycle?" Harry asked, staring at the board.

"A motorcycle?" George mused, pausing minutely with the rook in his hand. "Not really, I know how to ride a car though, it can't be that much different, can it?" He shrugged at him, putting the rook forward.

"I wouldn't know," Harry said wryly and George grinned at him, remembering the whomping willow incident[11]. "Would you like to learn?" Harry asked, and, before George could reply, continued, "You know the flying motorcycle that Hagrid used to get me out of Privet Drive?"

"Yeah, it looked really cool," George remembers the bike and most importantly "didn't it get smashed to little pieces?"

"I wouldn't say little pieces," Harry said with a wry smile. "Well, the pieces were given to Mr Weas- your dad and he fixed it right up and gave it back to me[12]-"

"So that's what he was working on. We've been wondering what he's been up to, I don't think mum has fully forgotten the Ford Anglia incident to be honest," he sent a small grin at Harry who blushed, scratching his cheek.

"But anyway, he gave me the bike, and I could use a buddy to ride with, someone to learn with you know. And I heard it's fun, similar to a broom, but also very different, a bit more dangerous and such." Harry looked straight at George, who looked back. George's eyes glinted.

"Why not Ron or Ginny?"

Harry averted his gaze and then stared straight at George. "Because they don't need what it might provide." That sounded like some cryptic bs that Dumbledore would say. And yet...

"How about it? You never know, you could enjoy it."

* * *

There was something about riding a motorcycle - a muggle machine, fragile and prone to breaking, so unlike the brooms of the wizarding world, sturdy and spelled safe - that was exhilarating, and with Harry by his side, someone he trusted to have his back, it was even more so.

The wind flowing around his body, the passing scenery and the adrenaline of riding a motorcycle and the uncertainty of whether it can manage this, whether he will get out in one piece is a welcomed escape from all the thoughts and the silence that was plaguing him. His blood was singing with the adrenaline.

Riding the motorcycle, learning stunts – that is what sets him free.

* * *

He is scouted a few months later. The manager has a dazzling, pearly white smile. She babbles happily at him, looking him up and down, talking of shows and stunts and an audience. Of the adrenaline rush and the gasps of the crowd. She talks of autographs and the smiles on children's faces. She talks and talks and George can't help but to agree.

He signs a contract – a muggle one – with her for one year, which she assures him can always be renewed. She persuades him to buy contact lenses and to wear make up on his face, a performer's look, she calls it, and whilst his family and friends rib him about it a bit, they accept it in the end – some more supportive than others, with Angelina and Alicia most notably brandishing a brush in front of him.

George can't help, but to love the new look, his freckles hidden from sight, brown eyes purple. Clothes he has never worn before or imagined himself to wear. A new name on top of all that, that made his family sigh and Harry and Ron snicker. And a contract for a small tour in Britain, followed by other countries. No reminders.

* * *

When he looks into the mirror, Skull DeMort can see nothing of George Weasley in the reflection.

As a consequence, there was nothing left of Fred Weasley in the reflection either.

He ignores the pang in his chest.

.

.

.

_End Part I_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Footnotes_  
  
[Skip Footnotes]  

> 
> 9Basically no need for bleach or anything as it will take to all hair colours, in other news, it can stain anything and you need special products (which this brand also sells) to get rid of it. I made all this up, and this is not canon.[return]
> 
> 10First time Fred and George talked with Harry was during the first book on the platform where they helped him lift his trunk onto the train and into his compartment. Very nice of them and they will probably always remember Harry as the boy who needed help getting his trunk onboard :') [return]
> 
> 11Ah yes, that time Harry and Ron crashed the Ford Anglia into the whomping willow and later on used it to escape the spiders in the forbidden forest in the second book - not that George knows the second story (yet)[return]
> 
> 12I checked the wiki for this and JKR said in a live chat interview that Mr Weasley fixed the bike and then gave it back to Harry. That's all she says so here's my take on it: this scene is set in July 1999 and Mr Weasley worked really hard the past few months to build the motorcycle up in time for Harry's bday! He probably spent a few sleepless nights on it, as he was also taking part in the re-building efforts and trying to manage all the jinxed stuff that was given to non-magical folks during the war time. He is still finding hexed stuff from death eaters years down the line ):[return]
> 
> And that is the end of Part I Existing! Part II will only be posted when I write all of Part III which will take a while /:
> 
> As always, please follow me on my tumblr [dessmina](https://dessmina.tumblr.com/) for sneak peeks (i.e. spoilers lol) and my complaints about the writing! I will soon be posting the outtakes in second part of the series, so look forward to that! Edit: I have posted the outtakes and I just posted a [timeline for Part I Existing on my tumblr](https://dessmina.tumblr.com/post/188864662072/this-is-the-rough-timeline-i-made-for-the-story)! I don't have the entire timeline up because spoilers.


	4. Part II: Rebirth I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part II: Enter Skull, flames and Arcobaleno (but not all in this chapter)!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I said I would only update when I have everything written out? Well, that was a lie! I have nearly written all of Part III though, and I hope I have it done by the time I post all of Part II up!

Leaving was hard. It was painful and full of tears and fears. It wasn't at all like when they moved out to live above the shop. Because then he wasn't alone. An now he was. But George knew he had to do it. He couldn't stay here, each step echoing a memory of when he wasn't alone and his family understood that. He said his goodbyes early in January, hugging his family tightly with promises of letters (he rolled his eyes when Harry tried excusing himself, as if he didn't think of the younger Griff as family).

Just before he parted ways with them, his mum hugged him with teary eyes one last time and whispered into his ear, "ad meliora".

It took only a second for him to translate.

_Towards better things_.

He hugged her back tightly.

* * *

Being a stuntman was an experience.

The exhilaration of the stunts never really vanished, reminding him of riding a broomstick and playing Quidditch in Hogwarts. But with flying he had the knowledge that the broom was enchanted with safety measures, that others around him could catch him, slow him down should he fall off it, but it wasn't like that with stunt riding. Muggles had no magic and should he fall, the consequences would be dire. Bruises, broken bones and maybe even worse. And he would only be able to heal from them naturally and using Muggle remedies rather than any potions or spells. And if he were to be hurt really badly whilst stunt riding, there might not be enough time for him to seek magical help.

George -no, Skull, he was Skull now- found it exhilarating.

Being a_ contracted _stuntman, with his own tour was even _better_.

He made sure to visit when he could and to write more often than that. There was an itch beneath his skin, telling him to keep on checking on his family, to make sure they were healthy and whole, that nothing happened to them when he wasn't there. He didn't question the feeling. He never felt the need to. He just wrote whenever he could and checked in with Ron (who decided that being a full Auror was at that point not for him[1]) and Jordan, as they were in charge of WWW without him there.

He shared stories of the places he went to, and sent them little gifts and postcards. He wandered into magical areas and tourist sights, always making a note of buying a camera, but forgetting all the time about it. And without fail, he wrote letters back at least once a week and someone always answered back, with their own stories of re-building going great, of another setback, of Hermione rallying another group of witches and wizards to tear any discrimination into shreds, of Gringotts still being weary and baring their teeth at the trio and anything else that came into their minds.

(Sometimes his letters were full of misdirections and pretence. He didn't tell them about the injuries. He didn't tell them about his bad days where he wanted to do nothing, not to even breath or exist. He didn't tell them about the days where he would sometimes smear on the make-up thicker in the hopes that he would look less like himself, even if he didn't look at his own face in the mirror. And he knew that they knew that, the same way that he knew that they had bad days they never dared to tell him about.)

They all missed him terribly and he missed them as well, but there was something about the world that called him, and by the smile on his mum's face he guessed she knew that as well. She only scolded him for not visiting more often or not eating enough or for being in 'sports peril' (a special designation on the Weasley clock designed for Quidditch and now stunt riding, as to not give her a heart attack if the hand switched to mortal peril due to the danger filled stunts[2]), never for leaving. He appreciated that.

He kept on writing everything and anything in between, and slowly, the wounds in his soul scabbed over.

And then he died.

* * *

He's afloat, flying high above the noise of the crowd. His hair moves with a mind of its own as he rises even higher and as he strats slowing he starts to pose and he does a twist and a flip and another and another until-

He's flying.

Until he's not.

He can feel heat, fire alight in his soul as he crashes down hard.

The crowd gasps and then cheers when he gets up. George stares shakily at his broken, shattered motorcycle before forcing his Skull mask on and lifting his arms wide towards the sky.

"I am Skull! The man hated by Death! Nothing can bring me down!"

He deliberately doesn't think of the brief darkness that overtook his vision, the crunch of his bones or of the purple fire that cradled him and vanished without a trace after.

* * *

It's when he's visiting for the weekend at beginning of April during their-_his_ birthday that he asks Hermione about the fire.

As is usual for when George needs to ask her something, she is in the Burrow's living room, books splayed out around her, some floating, others closed, but all with post-it notes sticking out. Ron is also there with his chessboard, probably considering new tactics for when he plays with Fleur. And Lee is on the armchair, napping with a book of his own open in his lap. Carefully, George takes the book out of his hands, hoping that Lee doesn't wake. Lee shuffles a bit in his sleep and then settles down easily. George takes a blanket out of the basket they're kept in the living room, and tucks it around Lee, who sighs quietly and snuggles down, his brow smoothing out. He then turns to Hermione, who still hasn't looked up from her research.

Usually, George would leave her be, but it was never good news when you are alive when you should be dead. Especially if you were surrounded by fire. What was more concerning was that he felt no adverse effects, no stiffness in his joints, no new wounds and no scars. It was almost like he imagined the fall and crush. If not for the state of his bike and the colourful description he got from his agent.

"Hey 'Mione," George said, sitting on the couch next to her. Hermione blinked owlishly, probably more at the feeling of being jolted rather than him talking to her and then scowled slightly, most definitely because he disturbed some of the books floating around that area. The books did an equivalent of huffing at him and bobbed away from him to Hermione's other side.

"Yes, what is it?" She asked a bit snappishly; George didn't hold it against her, everyone knew you didn't interrupt her research unless necessary. What counted as necessary differed. George could remember when Ron stopped her research to get her to eat dessert - she gave him a lecture on teeth health, something about her parents being dentists?

"I had an academic question," George said and watched in amusement as she perked up, her scowl softening as her eyes focused on him. "Have you ever come across purple fire in your reading?"

Hermione frowned, a crease forming between her eyebrows. "Purple fire? Hmm, well you have purple fire that forms when you add certain potions ingredients to regular fire, and then you can always change the bluebell flames to purple if your intent is strong enough..." she trailed off, noticing that George was shaking his head. "There are many ways you can make purple fire. Give me something more to go on, to narrow it down," she demanded and George complied.

"Well, roughly a month ago whilst doing one of my stunts it went a bit sideways. But before I knew it, there was purple fire surrounding me, and I came out with no scratch on my body, no burns and even my clothes were alright, a bit scrapped form the tumble, but not even a little singed. The weirdest part was that none of the spectators seemed to notice a thing, there I was burning with bright purple fire and no one said a thing, only concern for the tumble," George quickly explained, watching Hermione worriedly. "I thought I was going bonkers for a sec, but the bike was smashed to pieces and I fell alright." Hermione bit her lip.

"Purple fire? Emerged during danger, kept you safe, invisible to others, possibly only visible to those that have them as well?" she was muttering under her breath, the furrow in her brow becoming deeper with each point. "I've never heard of such a thing-"

"Isn't that one of those aspects thingies," George and Hermione whipped their heads towards Ron, who was busy looking at the board. A beat of silence and then he looked up. "What?" He looked behind himself "What is it? What I'd do?"

"Aspects? What is that, why have I never heard of them," Hermione's words came out in a rush and Ron squawked as she seemed to apparate in front of him, eyes focused on him.

"Well - I - I -well, umm, divination?" It was given more as a question than an answer to one, but Hermione accepted it quickly.

"_Divination,_" she repeated, voice dripping with disdain as she scowled once more. "Of course it would be _divination_!" Lee startled awake.

"Whazzit?" He slurred, even as his eyes quickly took in the room. He was ignored. George glanced between his bewildered brother and the gleam in Hermione's eyes, shaking his head.

"Tell me all about those aspects Ronald!" Hermione's entire focus was on Ron, who stayed still, not daring to move.

George pitied his brother.

* * *

At the end of the visit he considers visiting the grave.

He doesn't.

* * *

He goes back for a visit not a few weeks later after wishing his agent, Anna, a happy passover. He brings with him more stories about the purple fire and some more concerns and findings. When he concentrates really hard he can bring the fire to his hand. It doesn't burn him. It burns other things if he wills it to. He burst into flames and he thought they looked cool, licking his body, but not burning anything that he wished that the audience could see the effects of them and well-

"Really George," Hermione blew out a deep breath, her cheeks deflating as she gave him an unimpressed stare. George shrugged sheepishly at her.

"In my defence, didn't consider that the flames were tied to my intent and desires," he lifted his hands up in the air and Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

"Why wouldn't they? They did spawn trying to save you, it would be logical to assume that they would listen to you and try to do what you want them to, like accidental or instinctive magic."

"Yeah, didn't really have time to consider this during the stunt, you know," he pauses here and turns to his right, before catching himself and continuing on. "How much time do you think passed between them manifesting and me thinking they were cool and wishing others could it see? Didn't even have time to finish the thought."

Hermione doesn't mention his lapse and instead huffs at him.

"'Look at me, I'm George and I never use my brain'," Gin mocks passing by, dressed in Quidditch gear. George whirls around and feigns shock and offence, his hand on his heart.

"Ginny! My own sister! You against me too? I'll remember this kiddo, don't think I won't!" He shakes a finger in her direction. She sticks her tongue out at him and goes outside to the back garden. George turns back towards Hermione, who is summoning books towards herself. He wonders if she always keeps them on her or did she specifically bring those ones from her apartment that she shared with Ron, Harry, Neville and Gin. He decided he was better off not knowing.

* * *

Time, as it did, moved on.

Skull did stunts.

George visited his family.

Skull became more popular with each venue visited.

George helped design new products for WWW with Ron's help.

Skull died.

George lived.

Those flames really were something else. He hoped Hermione had luck digging up more stuff about it.

* * *

He gets asked to star in a film - as a stunt double. George told them he would think about it and then quickly consulted Lee when he next visited the family. Not only was Lee one of his best friends, but he also grew up in the muggle world, so he probably knew more about films than he did.

Lee enthusiastically told him all he knew about films and starring in them - not that he knew much about the second, not having worked on set of one. He did mention it was a good opportunity, and "something different to stop you from going mad" he mentioned wryly and George stopped tapping his fingers and made a face at Lee from across the table.

He ended up agreeing. He didn't regret it.

* * *

"It's so frustrating!" Hermione huffed and actually chucked the book away from her with a scowl. George watched the book catch itself in mid-air, shake itself like a dog and then settle down gently on the floor below it. Hermione glared daggers at it. "All the information is more than 200 years old! And it talks of concepts that we now know are not correct! It doesn't consider any of the Gamp's Laws or basic magical potion properties. I need a newer book that explores the aspects in the modern context," she glowered at the book, and the book seemed to cower away from her, scooching its spine back a small amount.

"Maybe we're missing something?" The glower got directed at him and George swore he could hear the book sigh in relief. "Maybe you are trying to find the information too directly - remember the tale of three brothers?" Hermione's scowl eased as her forehead scrunched up.

George watched in silence as Hermione's mind worked faster than a snitch could fly[3] and he jumped when she stood up quickly and made her way towards the phone that his dad installed with her help.

"Who you calling?"

"My parents, I want to ask them if they kept my fairytale books from when I was a child! They might be non-magical, but from what Katie has told me, each non-magical story has a grain of truth and magic in it," and with that she started dialling her parents. "Find any magical fairytales you can and give them to me."

George knew when to argue and when to retreat and quickly set off towards the bookshelf in the kitchen, leaving Hermione alone in the living room.

"Hi mum! Yes, I know I called you yesterday- no, I'm still coming to lunch with the boys- I was wondering if you..." George zoned out her voice and quickly eyed the bookshelf, picking out 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard: Revised Edition' that mum used to read to them when they were little. He also plucked out a very old edition of 'The Toadstool Tales' and hoped that Hermione did not expect him to read that. He remembered once sneaking the book away with Fred and feeling nauseous after two sentences. He quickly rifled through the book to see if it was as sickening as before.

_"Then the little golden pot danced with delight- hoppitty hoppitty hop! - on its tiny rosy toes! Wee Willykins had cured all the dollies of their poorly tum-"_

__

He snapped the book shut, shaking his head slightly and trying to keep his lunch in - no wonder they banned that book! Hermione was on her own in reading that one.[4]

* * *

George wakes with a hollow feeling in his chest. He looks bleakly around his trailer with its Skull merchandise and motorcycle posters. He glances at the calendar next to his bed and sees 'practice' written on today's date. He considers getting up, making his bed and starting his day, eating breakfast and brushing his teeth, but he can't build up any excitement, any motivation to do anything of the sort. He just feels like doing nothing - he just feels like nothing. What is the point in doing any of that?

His eyes droop and he lets himself sleep for a little while longer. Maybe the day will look brighter after a nap.

* * *

"Skull! Skull! Can I have an autograph?" A little kid greets him excitedly after one of his shows and Skull blinks in bewilderment and before he can say anything the girl's mother cut in.

"Jane! At least say please," the mother sighs as her child bounces in place. The mother looks a bit harried, clothes slightly rumpled, and Skull can imagine that she spent most of the afternoon running after her daughter.

"Please, can I have an autograph?" Jane looks up at Skull with wide eyes and he melts on the spot.

"Of course! One second!" And with that Skull disappears for a minute only to reappear with a poster and a shirt. "To who does Skull have the pleasure talking to?"

"My name is Jane!" The little girl seems to vibrate in place as the mother watches her fondly, her tired eyes crinkling into a smile.

"Jane you say! What a great name! Do you like motorcycles?" Skull asks whilst signing the poster and shirt for her.

"Yes! One day I will have a motorcycle of my own and ride them just like you do!" Skull can see the mother twitch in the corner of his eye.

"Skull has no doubt that you will be a great stuntwoman, however!" Here Skull pins a serious look at her and the little girl looks at him in rapture. "It is a dangerous business, you have to make sure you stay safe and there's always someone on hand to watch you! Now, don't tweak your nose like that," Skull admonishes as he sees the little girl's nose twist in displeasure. "Even the Greatest Skull always has someone watching his stunts, even my practices! You can get seriously hurt practising some of those stunts and that's no fun," Jane's face smooths out as she peers up at him. "If you ever want to be a famous stuntwoman, you have to stay safe, Jane," he says with a serious nod. Jane nods back.

"It wouldn't be fun being hurt," she admits reluctantly and Skull beams at her. He can also see the mother relax slightly. Skull didn't blame her. Stunt riding was dangerous and to know that this little girl wanted to do it because of him was both flattering and terrifying. She was just a baby! Skull had a responsibility to be a good role model and show her that safety was important!

He passes the poster and the shirt to Jane, waving the mother off when she tries to pay for them and says his goodbyes to them. Jane waves to him until they are out of sight and he watched them with a smile on his face.

* * *

It's been a year since he signed the contract.

He sends a Skull grin at his agent and signs on for another year.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Footnotes_   
[Skip Footnotes]
> 
> 1In canon Ron was an Auror for two years before quitting and helping George in the shop - a piece of canon I decided to actually keep![return]
> 
> 2The Weasley clock is a canon thing! From the HP wiki: _ "...Located in the living room at The Burrow, the clock had nine golden hands, one for every member of the household. In place of hours on the clock's face were a series of possible locations, including "home," "school", "work", "travelling", "lost", "hospital", "prison", and "mortal peril"..."_. Whilst in the films (Chamber of Secrets) there was a Quidditch designation, I decided to have Molly change it to "sports peril" rather than having multiple designations. More on the clock coming (: [return]
> 
> 3"faster than a snitch could fly" I was thinking, as he was raised in wizarding world, he would probably use wizarding metaphors with some muggle ones thrown in. I made this one up! bc snitches are fast little buggers, but Hermione is faster[return]
> 
> 4Listen, this is canon (minus George and Fred reading it). Beatrix Bloxam re-wrote "unwholesome" wizarding tales to make them more innocent bc she wanted to keep children's minds pure and was "protecting the precious flower of their innocence". The book was banned sometime in the 20th century, so I decided to make it a book that was passed down. Neither Molly or Arthur ever read this book to their children, they just kept it bc that's what you do with family things.[return]
> 
> Remember when I said there are 4 parts? There are 5 parts now bc apparently I can't shut up? So I have gone from 12 to 15 chapters. If anything needs tagging, pls do tell me! If you think I should add a footnote or a footnote isn't working, do tell me. Thank you for the kudos and comments, I promise I will get to your comments, even if it's a few months later! I also promise that the Arcobaleno are coming up. 
> 
> Find me on [tumblr as Dessmina](https://dessmina.tumblr.com/) where I will answer asks! I have also uploaded a [timeline](https://dessmina.tumblr.com/post/188864662072/this-is-the-rough-timeline-i-made-for-the-story) (I promise I will re-do it on a better background) and have recently posted the [family tree with dates and more](https://dessmina.tumblr.com/post/189516803872/this-is-for-do-not-stand-at-my-grave-and-weep)!


	5. Part II: Rebirth II

It's both easier and harder.

He is learning to live with the grief, with the fact that he's not there. But every time he gets a glance of his reflection or when the birthday starts to come about, all that he can think about is that Fred never reached this age and didn't get a chance to celebrate with family and friends.

And he never will.

He will always be 20 years old.

And George knows that he will never be able to forget that.

* * *

"C'mon, you can't wear that to a muggle- sorry, I mean non-magical - theatre Perce!" Ron said with a scowl as Percy scowled back.

"This is exciting! We get to see a mug- non-magical theatre and watch our son on it!" His dad said, bouncing on the soles of his feet. Mum threw him a fond glance as she clapped her hands and surveyed the family.

"I think we look non-magical enough. Hermione, dear, do you think we'll fit in?" She turned towards Hermione who was eyeing Percy's fluorescent green shirt covered in lace with disgust. She reluctantly tore her eyes away from the crime against humanity and turned to look at mum instead.

"Yes, however some of it is out of fashion by 20 years-"

"Oh, 20 years is not such a long time ago, just take a look at the robes I usually wear! Those are 40 years out of fashion at times, if not more!" Hermione stared at mum and then opened her mouth. "Now, we are going to take the mini-bus that your father lent from the ministry. Come along now." And with that mum swept out the front door.

"There's a difference between wizard and non-magical development!" Hermione hissed from next to him and George rolled his eyes, patting her shoulder in mock sympathy.

"There, there. Let them have their fun." Hermione grumbled some more, and then stifled a laugh as she watched Charlie put on a monstrosity of a coat.

"What time does the film begin George?" His dad called from where he was holding the car door open for the siblings.

"In an hour or so, but we still need to buy the popcorn and such," George said, making his way inside the car. "Thanks, dad," he added as his dad nodded, closing the car door behind him.

"Let's get going then. No time to lose!"

* * *

His mum tentatively asks him if he wants a birthday party.

He forces a smile.

"Not this year."

She smiles back at him.

They both know that it won't be next year either.

* * *

George laughed loudly, clutching his stomach as the letter he was reading got crushed in his hand. He stopped, read it again and then laughed. Still chuckling, he went to his desk and took a fresh piece of paper and pen – something that Hermione persuaded him to use, even if a quill still felt better in his hand.

'Professor Potter' had a good ring to it. He wondered how McGonagall was going to handle him, heck he wondered how Harry was going to handle the kiddos and flashbacks. Actually, how did McGonagall persuade him? Sure, Harry was a good teacher, his stint with Dumbledore's Army a few years back proved that, but he had no idea how she managed to persuade him to come back to Hogwarts. Maybe Harry's good memories outweighed the bad? George couldn't say the same. He nearly shuddered, imagining walking amongst the ghosts of people that died there, like Fr-

But then, McGonagall was a force of nature that no one could stand against and Harry always had a soft spot for her.[5]

He twirled the pen in his hand, still unfamiliar with it and started his letter, mumbling it as he went along.

"_Dearest Professor Potty_, man, Peeves is gonna have a field day, heck, Filch will have one as well!"[6]

* * *

He visits in the summer to celebrate. And are there many things to celebrate! Harry's birthday, Gin's birthday, Percy's birthday[7] and Harry's new job. George makes a stop by Diagon to pick up some firewhiskey and butterbeer, making sure to go in dressed in robes. He waves hi to Lee in the WWW who waves back with a grin. He mouths 'see you in the burrow' and George nods his head in acquiescence, before Lee goes back to managing the shop.

George makes a note to check out how it's doing, if any of the wards need re-doing and to make some new products. He apparates home, clutching the bag tightly.

He's greeted by banners decorating the lawn and the house. The outside tables were set out outside and some of his family was already floating out chairs.

"I bear gifts," George says loudly, lifting the cases of firewhiskey and butterbeer into the air and he sees Gin says 'great' as she waves at him.

"Put them on the table there," Bill tells him once he walks closer to them and George obliges, putting the cases on the drinks table.

"Does mum need any help in the kitchen?" Bill is already shaking his head before the full sentence is out.

"Harry and Perce are helping her out. You can help us with the chairs," Bill tells him. It's a warm, sunny day. The wind blows slightly, fluttering the banners and caressing their sweat covered skin.

"Ickle Harrykins knows how to cook?" George asks as he levitates the chairs, plopping them down in the right place.

"Only the muggle way, but he needled mum to teach him how to do by magic too. And Perce wanted help with his cooking as well, seeing as he was living alone and at most knew how to make cereal," Bill explained and George could see him smiling at nothing in particular.

"How many people are we expecting?" George asks and Bill pauses, head tilting and the fang earring bouncing with the movement.

"Let's see, mum, dad, me, Charlie, Perce, you, Ron, Ginny - that's 8. Fleur," Bill sported a small grin here before continuing "Harry, Hermione - that's 11. Neville, Lee, Luna - 14. I think Perce invited someone from his department, that's 15. Hagrid very tearfully told Harry he was honoured that he was invited and would make it - 16. Angelina, Oliver and Alicia wanted to stop by, but aren't certain if they can, so that's potentially 19. Then I think some of the order will also stop by-"

"So anything from 16 to 30 people," George butted in and Bill nodded his head.

"Sounds right." They worked in silence for a bit before George sent an unimpressed look at a grinning Bill.

"Alright, out with it," George said bluntly.

"Out with what?"

"You've been grinning at everything around you. Including the garden gnomes, don't think the buggers appreciated that. And you're wearing your nice earring. What good news do you have?" George asked impatiently and Bill made a face at him.

"You know what my nice earring looks like? I feel honoured Georgie," Bill said drily, reaching out to ruffle his hair. George dodged his hand, made a face at Bill and flicked his hand so the nearest chair went spiralling towards Bill, who flicked his hand in return to spin back to George.

"C'mon, out with it!"

"You'll find out later, so drop it for now. You could be useful and go grab the plates," Bill said at last, flicking the last of the chairs in place. George slowly raised his eyebrows.

"A dinner announcement? A family dinner announcement!" Bill summoned a small rock and chucked it at George who dodged it and then quickly went inside for the plates, sticking his tongue out at Bill as he went.

* * *

Just after they start eating, Bill rises with Fleur. They exchanged a look and Bill prompts Fleur to start. Beaming happily, Fleur announces she's pregnant, and there's a moment of silence before noise erupts. Mum bursts into tears, congratulating them and hugging them tightly. She badgers the couple with questions such as how far along Fleur is and do they know the gender? What about a name-? She smiles happily at them for the rest of the night, eyes watery. The couple handles it with good grace, smiling back at her and answering her questions the best they can.

Not long after that Luna with Dennis pop by and start chatting with Gin. The girl from Percy's work appears as well - Audrey? Maybe Aurora? No, George is certain it's Audrey - and spends most of the evening chatting with Percy. Neville brings plants with him and hands one to Gin, who beams at him and asks him what it can do. The Bones girl - Sarah? Susie? - also appears along with Lee. At that point, George loses count of all the people. He thinks he sees Krum at one point and Kingsley.

"George!" Was that-?

"Katie? I thought you were still travelling?" George asked, carefully hugging her when she bounds up to him. Katie hugs him back more tightly and George automatically tightens the hug.

"I was, but I came back around 2 months ago? Maybe 3, it's easy to lose track of time. I haven't talked with you in ages!" She said, separating from him, looking up at him with a smile. "Love the earrings, and what you did with your hair!"

"Thanks," George grinned rakishly at her, tugging at his lock of hair. "I need to redo the dye job soon though. Anyway, how was the world? Did you find anything interesting?"

"Well, I guess so," she shrugged at him, nabbing a cocktail sausage form her own plate with a toothpick. "It was interesting to see if any of those muggle- sorry, it's non-magical now isn't it? At least I heard Hermione was trying to change it to that- if any of the non-magical stories were based on the magical ones, or magical stuff in that area. But it just wasn't my thing, you know?" She ate another sausage.

"I thought as much. You did have that magical fairytale book as a kid, but you never seemed that passionate about it," George nodded at her, munching on chips.

"It was interesting though, and it did allow me to separate myself from here after the war and my parents- you know-" she paused and George stayed silent. Katie's parents both died during the war, her dad for being a muggleborn and her mum for marrying 'below her station'. Katie couldn't stay here, so she went travelling. Like George decided to do not long ago. "But then, I started missing all my friends, and the regular talks we had. I didn't really have anyone to share my triumphs and sorrows with. So I came back," she said, sending a quick glance at Alicia, who was laughing at something Angelina told her. Her eyes softened.

"Yeah, I understand," George said softly.

They chat for a while, Katie wrangles out a promise that he will get her a ticket to one of his shows, and she in return promises to talk about her findings with Hermione and then she goes up to Alicia, who easily moves aside to accommodate her, both leaning against each other slightly. They exchange a quick, soft look and then continue talking to Angelina. George spends some more time talking to others, exhausting as it is starting to feel, and before he knew it, his mum was bringing out the cakes, Harry blew out the candles first, then Gin and lastly Perce.

George made sure to sing the birthday songs as off-tune as he could, with a pang in his chest and a lump in his throat thinking of how Fred would love to be here, embarrassing their siblings and singing as off tune as they both could. But he wasn't here and George was. It was an empty consolation.

A party hat was dropped on George's head and he looked up to see Charlie, casually stood next to him, clapping and whooping as Perce blew out his candles. Only the small, concerned glances he sent George's way, gave him away. George attempted a smile at his brother, but it felt flat. Charlie squeezed his shoulder and didn't ask any questions. Instead, he stayed by George for the rest of the evening. Slowly, the smile became a bit more real and he found himself laughing at some of the conversations. And when he escaped to hide in his room, tired out from the conversations and emotionally drained from thinking of Fred, he could hear Charlie making excuses for him.

The next day he learnt that at the end, there was too much food and mum ended up sending everyone off with leftovers. And despite the hitch in the middle, it was a day he remembered for a long time with fondness.

* * *

Sometimes, he turns to say something to Fred or stops mid-sentence so his twin can finish it off. Sometimes, he thinks of an inside joke, an old prank and he grins and starts to say something only to remember that Fred was not there. Not any more. And it happened so much at first, his mind unable to catch up to the fact that Fred was. Not. Here.

Sometimes, in his dark moments, when the anger overboils, he curses Fred for leaving him. Sometimes his throat gets clogged up with words he wishes he said. And sometimes, he feels nothing at all and wishes he could join his brother so they could be together at last.

It gets rarer with time, but no less painful.

* * *

He makes sure to do a big 'back to school' sale in WWW for the new school year. He makes flyers in his trailer and then sends a copy to Harry, with a note that says that he hopes Harry has a good year teaching the kiddies.

He gets an owl back not two days later, and when he unties the letter, he realises it's a raspberry[8]. He opens it with a grin and it unfurls, rises in the air and then blows a raspberry at George. A very wet raspberry, but George keeps on grinning.

"Very funny," the letter echoes loudly in Harry's voice, blows one last raspberry at him and then shreds itself up, before vanishing entirely.

* * *

Skull's eyes were wide, head whipping in all directions, trying to take in everything he could. This time, his contract took him to Japan and what a place it was! So vibrant and clean and full of life!

And the food was so nice! He made a note to pick up a cooking book with recipes or to maybe ask for some of the recipes from the locals. He also made a note to thank Katie for sending him the list of spells to help with language learning and the earring charmed with a translation charm - bloody useful that was.

The language was very interesting, and the longer he stayed the more he learnt about it - along with the honorifics. Skull grinned, thinking of all the possibilities to make himself more obnoxious and when one of the kids used -sama... well, that really clicked it for him.

* * *

"I am the great Skull-sama! The man hated by Death itself!"

Skull's eyes glinted with purple fire.

* * *

Sometimes, George wondered who was more happy about his character of Skull, him or Anna. She just took everything into a stride, any quirks he wanted to add, she just nodded her head with a serious expression on her face and then returned a few days later with posters and sometimes even new merchandise - George had no idea how in Merlin's name she got the prototypes so quickly.

But then, despite her small size[9], she was very formidable and very ambitious. And she did set her mind to making him the greatest stuntman. All the shows, posters, working as a stuntman in films - it was all her idea. She kept checking if he wanted to change anything about the shows and listened to his input and acted on it. And Skull was thankful for it. Thankful that she listened, that she helped him gain distance, _freedom _from his past.

He couldn't ask for a better agent.

* * *

There was someone in his trailer. There was someone, that he did not invite, that he did know that was in his trailer, that was warded to allow only people he knew and allowed, that had a muggle repelling charm[10] on. There was someone in his trailer powerful enough to bypass and be in his wards that was most certainly not a muggle.

And George trusted his instincts, and they were all _screaming_ at him.

George did not like this one bit.

He glanced around, checking for any muggles nearby and then took out his wand with the fake pound coin, one you would find in muggle board games (or that weird shopping child's play set that George once saw being advertised on the TV and still did not understand, why would a kid want to pretend to be a cashier-?). He tapped the coin with his wand, concentrating on the shorthand communication they developed and words appeared along the edge. 'Int. Wards X. NMu. Stnd-B. Cnfrnt Agg. 1h'[11.1] telling his family he was in an unknown situation and that he would confront them directly, and for them to stand-by.

He waited tersely for at least one of them to reply, activating the eavesdropping charm on the coin and pressing the record button on his phone (a distant part of his mind not focused on this threat hoped that his memory wasn't full and that his battery wasn't low). A few seconds after that, George felt the coin warm and he glanced at the other side of the coin. 'MssgeR. Stnd-B. StSa.'[11.2] and the image on the coin changed to a broomstick - that must be Ron.

George squared his shoulders and put on the mask.

Skull barged into his trailer, grin wide on his face. "Another successful performance by- eeeeeeeh?" Skull screeched upon 'seeing' the figure sat in the corner of his trailer, next to his kitchen unit.

It was a tall figure - or at least Skull guessed, it was hard to tell, what with it being sat down - with a top hat and a mask. And Skull didn't mean it figuratively - although that would be accurate as well - he meant a literal mask, an iron mask. Probably magical in nature or the technology has improved a lot without him noticing, as he could see the lips on the mask curl up. It could also actually be its face, but he could see that it had skin on its neck and when it shifted its arms so they rested on the cane - it had a cane like those old gentlemen in 19th century what - together, Skull could see skin between its chequered gloves and coat. Thinking about it, it looked just like a 19th century or early 20th century gentleman, just with more metal, maybe steampunk gentleman-

Not the time.

"Who are you!" Skull rudely pointed at the figure. Its smile became wider as the eyes behind the mask seemed to cut across into his soul. And it wasn't the same piercing look of Harry's that tried it's best to help or McGonagall's piercing stare that tried to figure out what he and Fred were up to (and did that not make his chest ache painfully in remembering his brother). It was a cold gaze. A gaze lacking in humanity and empathy. It was as lifeless as the dolls his mum used to try and persuade Gin to play with when she was younger. Skull could almost feel the shiver in his soul as the eyes evaluated him, gauging his worth and taking him apart like an insect.

Skull did not like this one bit.

"Who am I is of little consequence," it replied at last and Skull bristled.

"What'd you come into my trailer for?"

"I have an offer for you-"

"The great Skull-sama thanks you for your interest, but any hiring or offers are to be done through his agent!" He steam rolled over it and it tilted its head. Was it some kind of magical creature? A wizard that was just really creepy?

"It is a different kind of job. One that will allow you to learn-"

"But great Skull-sama already went to school!" He pouted at it.

"It will allow you to learn more," the figure ignored him and continued on. "It will allow you to work with others ("bleh," Skull voiced) and to learn how to protect your family better," here it paused, but Skull had no comeback for it. His family. "You want to protect your family better, do you not? All you would have to do is to work with a select few others, the strongest in their field." It stopped there and looked evenly at Skull.

"Skull-sama doesn't like working with others."

"They have the answers you seek." What a cryptic load of bulls-

"I haven't asked any questions that you can't answer, you dic-," and it was George that answered and not his mask of Skull, this being came into his trailer to threaten the safety of his family and is trying to blackmail him? George gets interrupted before he can finish off his insult.

"You wanted to know more about the purple fire, did you not?" This stops George short. He stares wearily at the thing in the iron mask.

"I don't like you."

"I know."

"I don't trust you."

"I know."

"Why should I listen to you, when you have threatened my family, what is _mine_?"

"What other choice do you have?" A fake grin split its face as it tilted its head at him.

A beat.

"What should I call you?"

"You may call me Checkerface."

A beginning of an end.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Footnotes_   
[Skip Footnotes]
> 
> 5Deathly Hallows book when he throws cruciatus cure at one of the Carrows for spitting on her, anyone?[return]
> 
> 6Remember how Ron decided he wasn't fit for auror? Well in this fic Harry decided the same thing. Sure in the canon he stays an auror, becomes head auror and then head of magical law enforcement blah blah. But this is not canon and this Harry decided that he wanted to teach kids[return]
> 
> 7Harry's birthday is July 31st. Ginny's birthday is August 11th and Percy's is August 22nd[return]
> 
> 8Not canon! Raspberry letter is my own invention and if someone gives me a better, obvious name I will take it. Basically, a raspberry letter will blow a raspberry (or multiple raspberries) at the receiver and can read out a message if the sender gives one. I might make some other ones like singing letters or sighing letter or something[return]
> 
> 9She's average height, the Weasley family is just tall with most of his brothers (Bill, Percy and Ron) being taller than him. He's roughly 5'9 so George's perception is therefore skewed; just saying![return]
> 
> 10Canon! Muggle repelling charm is canon. I wanted to put notice-me-not, but that's actually fanon. SI'm considering using it in later parts, maybe have someone come up with it? Also, George uses muggle here bc he's stressed so he's falling back on automatic thinking, so muggle repelling charm vs non-magical repelling charm[return]
> 
> 11Not canon! Shorthand that they developed for quick communication so it would fit on the coin. Int means intruder. Wards X means that the wards were untouched. NMu means 'not muggle' so a magical being of some kind, but not a wizard specifically. Stnd-B means stand-by in case he needs help. Cnfrnt Agg means he plans to confront them aggressively/directly. 1h means if he doesn't send anything in 1 hour, then something happened.[return.1] MssgeR is message received. Stnd-B, they are on stand-by. StSa is stay safe. Basic and very unimaginative, I know![return.2]
> 
> The actual Arcobaleno appear next chapter, have no fear! How will Skull react? Will this be mostly canon compliant? To an extent probably. Part III is written and just needs some edits, and for the footnotes to be coded (which is a pain at times tbh). 
> 
> Feel free to follow me on [tumblr (Dessmina)](https://dessmina.tumblr.com/) where I post my ramblings, am willing to answer anon asks and have posted a rough [family tree](https://dessmina.tumblr.com/post/189516803872/this-is-for-do-not-stand-at-my-grave-and-weep)! 
> 
> As always, thank you for all the reads, kudos and comments!


	6. Part II: Rebirth III

George smiled at Anna.

"It is in my contract that in September and December I will have reduced shows," he patiently reminded her whilst she fretted over the log book, full of shows and their finances. She wrinkled her nose at him. "And you know that we will see each other in a month or so. And I did find something to do this year. That reminds me! Courtesy of my mum," he passed her a bag.

"Go ahead," he nudged her when she hesitated. "It's a honey cake, secret family recipe," he winked at her and she smiled at him. She then passed him a bag of her own.

"Apples dipped in honey. Remember to eat some tomorrow! Now," here she packed the log book into her suitcase and gave him a concerned look over. "I will see you in a month. Please take care of yourself."

"I will. Shanah tovah!" She startled slightly and then beamed at him.

"Shanah tovah u'metuka!"[12]

* * *

Skull was a mask. It made him someone not George Weasley, free of his past and memories. He had a distant family that he sometimes talked about (usually only his agent and she in turn talked about her nieces and nephews - or niblings[13] as she called them).

And then, Skull's mask also had a mask. It was the stuntman, face painted and grin stretched wide. The boisterous confidence and just plain annoying persona. Sometimes he let people look past Skull's mask to just Skull.

The people Checkerface man told him to meet did not deserve to look past both masks, maybe not even one of the masks.

"I am the Great Skull-sama, hated by the Grim Reaper himself!" He boasted, secret amusement in his eyes, hidden by years of avoiding getting caught in pranks.

He could see the moment their eyes dismissed him.

More fool them.

And as Skull screeched as the handsome man with curly sideburns and really nice suit fired a bullet at him, he could feel that it would be somewhat fun to poke fun at them.

* * *

So, huh. Flames.

* * *

"Only those in the mafia can be aware of them, you wouldn't want Vindice on your tail so," here Fon aimed a serene smile at him "tell no one about them."

Skull widened his eyes. "What about those who know about f-flames?" Skull asked curiously, making sure to play up the innocent civilian act.

"Those who are aware of the flames are mafia maggot," Lal Mirch scowled at him, still incredulous that Checkerface decided he was one of the best. "So you better don't go babbling to people that don't know," she levelled a glare at him.

Skull squeaked and nodded his head rapidly.

Internally, George rolled his eyes, as if Hermione would ever let him not tell her. And besides, she was aware of the fi-flames, even if she only knew them as aspects.

* * *

"I'm not meant to talk about it," George said apologetically with a shrug, carefully hiding any amusement away from her.

"So you can tell us all about the aspects and that's because of your new job, but not what the job itself involves?" Hermione asked, disappointed, even as her eyes rapidly flicked over the notes she made about the aspects.

"Sounds about right. Pass the carrots Perce," George said turning to Percy on his right. Percy passed him the carrots, lip twitching as George ignored all of Hermione's questions. It was only after he put the carrots on his plate, thanked his brother and swallowed a mouthful of carrots that he turned back to her.

"-aspects? You certain there's no way I could meet some of those flame users to learn more about them? Come on George, stop ignoring me!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you," he said, tapping his deformed ear. "A bit difficult, what with an ear missing on this side, you know how it is." He shrugged at Hermione. George could see Ron hiding a grin before he shoved some of the mashed potatoes into his mouth and Gin was grinning wildly at him from Hermione's side.

Hermione wasn't fooled though.

"I know for a fact that the ear is working well and that you can hear me, don't pretend otherwise George!"

"How about I tell you more after dinner, I'm famished," he quickly deflected, growing weary of the questioning, he should have known better than telling her before dinner. And he knew he would tell her about it eventually (probably when he got too annoyed at the Arcobaleno), it was just fun teasing her and all that George was missing now was Fred.

"Yes, Hermione dear, you haven't even touched your peas, nevermind the potatoes!" Mum quickly fussed over Hermione who froze with her pen in hand. She reluctantly dragged her notebook off the table and sent a quick 'sorry' mum's way, who only shook her head and fussed some more.

When Hermione was busy putting some vegetables on her plate, mum sent George a small wink that went unnoticed by most at the table. Good to know that mum had his back

* * *

"So, what's the mission?" Skull asked the group curiously.

"Didn't you read the debrief?" Lal asked quietly, staring intently at him.

"Nope!" Of course, Skull did read it and he knew exactly what was going on, but he had to have some fun with those people. Look how boring they were, how serious! And they also presumed him to be the weakest which did annoy Skull slightly. Him pretending to be an idiot was the least he could do. "Didn't see the need to, I'm better at thinking on my feet!" Which wasn't wholly a lie, he had to learn how to think on his feet fast along with most people who took part in the war - if you didn't, well, you wouldn't get to think at all.

Lal made an aborted motion, as if to kick him, but stopped herself at the last second. Reborn did not have the same restraint.

"Oww! Senpai," Reborn twitched at the moniker, fingering his gun slowly "what was that for?"

"Always be prepared for anything lackey," he sneered and Skull pouted at him.

"What we need to do-" And Lal launched into an explanation of her plan. Or at least she tried to.

"Actually, I have a better plan," Reborn purred and Lal glared daggers at him.

"Oh, do you now?" Did Skull just hear her teeth grinding? Yes, yes he did. Someone had to de-escalate the tension and what better person than Skull?

"Senpai!" A twitch. "Shouldn't we let Lal finish speaking? She did propose her plan first-" Skull yelped as he started dodging the bullets. Ah yes, bring the strongest people into one place, surely there will be no complications and they will get along just fine. Well, Checkerface fu-

"That does sound like an acceptable plan," Verde said reluctantly and Reborn smoothly turned in the direction of the others. Whilst Reborn was busy trying to maim Skull, Lal managed to explain the plan to the rest of the group - with success it seems as none of the others looked like they hated the plan - although it was hard to tell with Viper who had their hood up, obscuring their face from everyone.

"What about the great Skull-sama! What does he get to do?" Skull bounced up to Lal who smirked at him. Inside, George twitched, oh he knew that look. It was the look of a prankster, of someone serving someone their dues. She was about to say something that Skull would hate with every fibre of his being he could tell. On the outside, Skull leaned towards her, looking at her with wide eyes and a grin.

"You're bait," she said.

"I'm what-"

* * *

"They used me as bait!" George recounted furiously at the dinner table.

"I thought you weren't meant to talk about the jobs?" Hermione asked with a huff, cutting her chicken more harshly than it deserved to be cut.

"With every moment I spend with the group, the more motivated I am to find the loopholes," George said, shrugging his shoulders. "I mostly didn't look at loopholes for telling others because respect and stuff, but they're losing my respect fast." Hermione perked up.

"Does that mean you will tell me more about aspe-flames?"

"Probably," George warily watched the glint in her eyes. "Probably won't tell you the identities of the people or anything, I'll use nicknames or something, but if they annoy me more I just might."

Hermione happily ate the rest of her dinner, a gleam in her eyes.

* * *

Sometimes, Luce stares at him, gaze focused solely on him as if she can't figure him out.

He wonders what she sees, if she can tell he is George and not Skull. If she can tell that he is more than he pretends to be.

And he thinks he does, but not because of what she can see, but because of what she can't see. 

George thinks, that no matter how her flames try, they won't be able to see George fully until George lets them. He hides his small grin behind his Skull smirk as he laughs obnoxiously at Rebron.

* * *

Another week, another mission.

"What's the plan this time?" Skull asked Fon in a whisper, glancing at the targets below. He then looked at the rest of the team, just in time to see them exchange looks. Skull pretended not to notice, and sighed internally knowing he would not like what would come next.

"Distraction," Reborn told him, a gleam in his eyes.

"What kind of distraction?"

"Bait."

Skull barely had time to yelp before he was plummeting down to the mafia below. Sons of b-.

* * *

"I was bait, again!" George recounted indignantly, puffing his cheeks out as he waved his arms violently. He could see some of the family stifle their laughs. "Who do they think they are to just- oh, hello Andy love, here for the family dinner? And hello to you little fella!" George wiggled his fingers in Teddy's direction who was being bounced on Andromeda's knee. Teddy mumbled something from around the toy in his mouth, clapping his hands together in excitement, drool dripping everywhere. Andromeda smiled at George, idly charming Teddy dry who blinked in bewilderment and then squealed, ripping the toy out of his mouth and waving it around in excitement.

"Hello George. Yes, your mother was kind enough to invite us both. How is your job going?"

George exhaled loudly through his mouth, exaggerating his facial expression for little Teddy. "They made me bait. Again," he said in a sulk, arms crossed. Andromeda nodded her head, her face perfectly calm.

"A real tragedy, I am sure." George nodded his head rapidly.

"It is! That's it! Time for some payback. Sorry Andy, but I will be borrowing some of this lot." Andromeda waved her hand in shooing gesture, watching him order the people in the room in amusement. "Ron, help me pick joke items for them. You too, Lee. Hermione, don't think I forgot Marchbanks and her 'sneak' decoration, get over here," he quickly gathered them up, mournful that Ginny had training and couldn't help and that Harry was at Hogwarts, probably marking papers. But he'll have to do with what he had. He waved to Andromeda and Teddy, and then ushered out his little group into the living room.

"Any ideas you lot? Something subtle, something that can't be traced back to me, but would inconvenience them," Geroge looked around the group.

"Wouldn't that be mean? Pranking the non-magicals with magical items," Lee furrowed his brows.

"They seem to have some kind of knowledge of magic, and George would never use something that they seriously would have trouble counteracting like turning them into canaries," Hermione said, a pen in hand as she started to note down some of her ideas.

"George did mention they had some military training," Ron pointed out, flicking his wand to send a book flying towards himself. George just managed to catch a glimpse of the title 'Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes inventory' before Ron caught it and flicked it open.

"And they made me bait Lee," George said seriously. "_Bait_."

"Alright, alright, just checking we were in the clear. Maybe a misfortune hex tied to an item?"

"Ooo, how 'bout Singful Sip?" Ron asked, pointing to one of the products in the book.

"The one based on the cantis spell?[14]" Hermione leaned over to take a look at the book.

"Yeah, it hasn't even hit the shelves yet, but we have managed to get a stable version of it going and planned on stocking it for December, for all the caroling and such," Lee answered.

"Have you worked out how to make them sing specific songs yet?" George asked.

"Nope," Ron popped the 'p'. "We can have them just sing in general - Singful Sip. Or some kind of genres. We have Singful Christmas Sip, Singful Blues Sip, Singful Wizardry Sip-"

"Do you have a non-magical version?" George butted in before Ron could list all the other variations.

"Sure do! No idea what to call it though-"

"You've just been putting the type between 'singful' and 'sip'-"

"Listen, it's hard coming up with the names, and they kind of flow anyway, but 'Singful Non-Magical Sip' just sounds wrong and we are not using muggle-"

"You could have used something else!"

"Oh please enlighten us then, the great Skull-sama!"

George and Ron glared at each other whilst Hermione hid a smile behind her huff and Lee snickered off to the side.

"How about just taking the lyrics of a popular non-magical song?" George proposed at last. Ron made a face.

"That seems like a lovely idea," they all jumped as mum joined the conversation, wiping her hands on the apron. "Ronnie, do use that to name the product, but later. I just finished making dinner, so why don't you clean up and I'll round up the rest of the family." And with that mum vanished.

"Better clean up," Lee said at last, flicking his wand towards the books, which started closing themselves and piling up nicely. They all followed Lee's lead.

* * *

George hid a smile behind his Skull mask as Reborn swore quietly and glared at his own tie. He quickly tied it and threw it another glare for good measure, and Skull could just imagine the cloud of anger above his head growing more violent and turbulent - or would a metaphor about a sun be more correct? Something that if he was a sun, he would be scorching everyone within sight?

He quickly hid another smile as the tie came undone once more and made himself scarce before Reborn noticed.

"Having trouble keeping the tie tied," Lal scowled at Reborn who scowled back, before flicking his eyes to his tie, which has been undone. Again.

As he made his quick exit, followed by Luce and Fon, Skull wondered idly whether Reborn would throw the tie away, burn it or keep it? Guessing by the cursing, he bet he would burn it to ashes.

* * *

Skull sipped his alcohol and watched in amusement as Lal tripped over nothing, the only thing showing her anger was the fist clenched at her side.

"Having trouble walking straight?" Reborn mocked her and Lal's jaw clenched.

Wisely, everyone else absconded the common area and went somewhere else, the sound of gunshots and shouting echoing behind them.

"Lal is not prone to clumsiness," Fon remarked, walking next to Skull and sipping his tea.

Skull gave him a shrug and took another sip of his alcohol.

"She's really not," Skull widened his eyes. "Maybe she's having a bad day?" Skull theatrically whispered to Fon, eyes still wide. Fon paused, his eyes going wide for a second, before he sent a placid smile at Skull. Huh, so Fon wasn't as blind or easy to fool. Note made, be more careful. At most, Skull guessed that he saw through Skull's mask of The Great Skull-Sama, and not through his Skull mask to George. He could live with that.

* * *

There was something inexplicable, something awfully wrong with seeing Verde sing a non-magical pop song.

"_I just can't get you out of my head Boy, your lovin' is all I think about,_" Verde's face turned an incredible rainbow of colour which was interesting to see.

"Kylie Minogue? I wasn't aware you listened to her music," the grin on Reborn's face, on the other hand, was neither incredible nor interesting, just terrifying and promising pain and embarrassment for those involved. Mainly Verde in this case.

If glares could be weapons, Reborn would be no more than particles floating in the air. Verde opened his mouth, Skull guessed he wanted to make a scathing remark, but-

"_You've been hit by, you've been struck by, a smooth criminal_," was what came out.

Skull was torn between staying and watching this wreck, and vanishing before he burst out laughing to Verde's face. Verde grabbed a piece of paper and jabbed at the paper with the pen.

" 'I will find who did this to me and make them suffer'," Skull read out, squinting to make out the rushed and slanted words. "You need to work on your handwriting, Skull-sama could barely make out what you wrote" Skull told Verde kindly.

"_But tell me, did the wind sweep you off your fe-_" Verde hastily put his hand over his mouth and glared at everyone in turn, before picking himself up, snatching the piece of paper from Skull and storming off.[15]

* * *

"So you wanted to learn more about flames?" George said to Hermione on Christmas Eve. Hermione perked up, looking at him with shining eyes as she nodded her head, putting a bookmark into her book and then flicking her wand at it to put it away. It quickly settled down on the pile in the corner, making it sway precariously before settling. He could see Ron shaking his head in the corner as he played chess with Fleur (who was holding her own admirably against a strategist like Ron) as Hermione's attention stayed on George. "Let me tell you the ways they were used by the others in my group-"

In the time that George was telling Hermione all about the flames ("You can use them to heal with varying results. From what I learnt, Sun - that's the yellow one - is the best suited for it. Though, Fedora ain't a big fan of using them like that-" "apparently, depending on what flame you have, you have a certain personality type. So greens are more driven, blues are more calm, reds explosive and so on, a bit dumb if you ask me- okay so maybe Hogwarts houses aren't any better-"), Ron managed to win the chess game, the following re-match with Fleur, play another game with Harry, another with Dad and manage to make his way to the kitchen, only to come back with cookies and hot chocolate for everyone - including Hermione and George, where George moved onto telling what happened at the last mission.

"-at that point, I made myself scarce, yelling out a 'See you next time, senpai!', dodging the yellow bullets as I went."

"What's the next mission then?" Asked Ron, nudging the cookie plate closer to George, who happily took one, taking a bite.

"Som'thin' 'b'ut a m'nta'n," he said, mouth full of a half chewed cookie. Fleur wrinkled her nose at him and George obligingly swallowed before continuing. "It's a treasure hunt. Go find this treasure near the top of the mountain, similar to that one mission a month ago."

"The one where you saw the Bundimuns and had to herd the team away?"

"They're not animals you know, no matter how much they sometimes act like ones," George said, ignoring mum's shouted _"George!"_ from the kitchen. "But yeah, it was when I stopped them on checking on the decaying smell. 'Our client could be dead'," George mocked Reborn's voice. "As if I can't recognise a Bundimun smell or see it scuttling away in the dark. It was a hassle to get them to leave and for me to report it to the ministry in Italy[16]. Thankfully, they didn't see it as I didn't fancy checking if obliviate worked on them, and if it did, if there was a time limit or something,[17]" and with that he took another bite of his cookie.

"Treasure huh?" Ron asked, a small frown on his face. Everyone tensed up, George instantly straightening up and swallowing his cookie, throat dry even as he nodded at his brother.

"What is it?" Harry prodded carefully even as his own eyes flickered as if he could guess what Ron would say. Ron scrunched his nose up.

"There's something not quite... right about it. Something false. I dunno, it just doesn't feel right," Ron said with a shrug, a furrow in his brow and George made a note of it. Ron could sometimes guess important events, mum said it was some of the distant seer blood from her family, just the instinctive knowing of some stuff[18].

"Yeah, it feels like," Harry stopped, tilting his head slightly and squinting his eyes. "It feels fake? Possibly a trap," Harry said at last. and everyone instantly focused on George.

"Don't go," Dad said first.

"He signed a contract though!" Countered Hermione.

"And it was with that checker faced being, it's not going to be happy," said Ron with a grimace.

"What happens if he doesn't turn up?" Dad asked worriedly.

"I don't think we want to find out. Remember when it first appeared?" Percy said with a grimace of his own.

"I'll have to go then," said George.

"Yeah, and get caught in a trap!" Ron said sharply.

"Is it a death trap?" He quickly threw back. At that, everyone turned to look at Ron and Harry. Harry, who up until that point was quiet, frowned slightly and then shook his head.

"It's a trap, but it won't kill you. Won't really harm you, but... there's something. It will do something. Something you won't be happy about," Harry decided on at last.

"What, like make him cursed or something?" Ron tilted his head. Fleur perked up.

"If it's a curse, then my Bill could lift it, and if he couldn't, there are books that he could find, or people he could ask," she said with a beautiful smile, her hand absently stroking her slight belly[19].

"Yeah," but even as Ron said it, the furrow in his brow remained. "Be careful yeah?" He said to George at last.

"I always am," he said, a promise in his words. His family smiled at him.

* * *

He looked away from the others in dread and looked down at his own hands.

_Tiny, _was his first thought._ A toddler's hand. _And then with horror,_ this is his hand._

.

.

.

_End Part II._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Footnotes_   
[Skip footnotes]
> 
> 12I'm not Jewish, IF ANY OF THIS INFO IS INCORRECT, please correct me! The Jewish New Year happens in September/early October and following it are more holidays so I thought it would be fitting to have his agent (Anna) take the month off. Apples dipped in honey are traditionally eaten to bring a sweet new year. In general, sweet food is eaten and bitter avoided, so Molly made a honey cake for Anna. "Shanah tovah" means have a good year and "shanah tovah u'metuka" means have a good and sweet year. Anna is pleased at George saying it bc from my own experience as a minority, people remembering your different holidays or saying the holiday greetings in your own language is absolutely wonderful as it shows interest and empathy! Just people engaging with your own culture is wonderful![return]
> 
> 13Niblings! It's an actual thing, a gender-neutral form of nieces and nephews.[return]
> 
> 14Cantis is a (canon) spell that makes the victim burst into an uncontrollable song.[return]
> 
> 15All the songs belong to the respective artists, were popular in 2001 and are in order of appearance: Can't Get You Out Of My Head by Kylie Minogue; Smooth Criminal cover by Alien Ant Farm (originally by Michael Jackson); Drops of Jupiter by Train.[return]
> 
> 16Bundimun is a canon creature, (Fantastic Beasts textbook). Found worldwide infesting houses; they have a stench of decay and rot away the foundations. They look like fungus with beady eyes and "when alarmed it will scuttle away on its numerous spindly legs". George talks about informing the ministry in Italy bc the Bundimuns have grown very large and would need specialist handling and they were in Italy so, Italian ministry rather than British[return]
> 
> 17My logic: On Harry Potter wikia it does say that obliviate erases memories, but then it says that "Memory Charms can be broken through torture", so I'm guessing it's more of a block rather than erasure of memories. As such, I think that flames would be able to resist the memory charm, or at least chip away enough at it for the flame user to realise that Something Is Not Right[return]
> 
> 18In the books, Ron sometimes has this uncanny ability to guess stuff. In the first book: "I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll." and then they had to fight a troll later. In the second book he guessed about Myrtle (HP: "I wouldn't mind knowing how Riddle got an award for special services to Hogwarts, either" RW:"Could've been anything... Maybe he murdered Myrtle, that would've done everyone a favour") and then you have the fourth book with Ron and Harry making stuff up for their divination homework at start of the year, RW to HP: "Why don't you get stabbed in the back by someone you thought was a friend?" with Ron betraying Harry in books 4 and 7 (but he came back, apologised and learnt from his mistakes, and we are thankful for that!) and many other instances![return]
> 
> 19At this point, Fleur is around 4 months along, so she's at this stage of people questioning if she's pregnant or fat[return]
> 
> Find me on [tumblr as Dessmina](https://dessmina.tumblr.com/) where you can find [my dnsamgaw tag full of stuff,](https://dessmina.tumblr.com/tagged/dnsamgaw) including a small drawing I did of [George as Skull,](https://dessmina.tumblr.com/post/190140383467) [family tree](https://dessmina.tumblr.com/post/189516803872/) and general complaining about characters taking over! Thank you for reading, commenting and more! See you in part III!


	7. Part III: Coping I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part III: George copes with being a toddler. And so do the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few things:
> 
> 1) WARNING: Note the tags! This chapter has 2 descriptions of **_panic attacks_**. You can skip them by clicking on the first sentence and it will take you to the next scene. They begin with "He has to tell Anna that..." and then "He could feel a tightness growing stronger in his chest...". 
> 
> 2) Not only can you click on the footnotes, but you can return right back to the text if you want to! Or you can read all the footnotes at the end and just jump back to see what it was explaining.
> 
> 3) Thank you to that cute anon who made my entire week with their ask! (Anon I love you hope you have a good day)

The new Arcobaleno parted ways, bitterness lodged in their hearts, and knowledge that they will always be like this and nothing can be done. Skull didn't bother saying anything to any of them, and none of them said anything to him.

Good.

* * *

He stumbled home. When his mum opened the door, brows furrowing before she looked _down_, and saw him and greeted him, looking at him in surprise, George could do nothing, but hug her legs tightly. She hugged him back, fretting over him, exclaiming over his size. He let the familiarity lull his frayed nerves.

Later, when he explains what happened, looking _up_ at all his family, he can see the anger in their eyes, the way their fists clench and the way they frown. He feels a muted sense of warmth, that they would feel like that for him, but mostly he just feels numb shock.

Only later, when he is alone in the back garden does he let out a scream of rage and sadness and despair, his magic and flames lashing out with him.

* * *

Becoming a toddler seemed to mess with his flames. Or it was the curse. Or both. They were a bit harder to coax out, but also easier for him to find, compared to before. But using the flames as he did previously seemed harder to do. Yes he was aware of the flames, he knew they were there, deep within his soul, but it was also like he was producing less than before, 'healing' was slower than before.

But apart from the problems with his flames, they also seemed to change his magic. It was more volatile, more likely to explode in his face when doing delicate magic and more eager when he did any emotional magic. And George was certain that he was also doing accidental magic! As if he didn't have enough on his plate.

* * *

He realised he couldn't use his motorcycle any more or go stunt riding or go out in public without someone asking where his parents where or really do anything he used to do as a way to have freedom as an adult. And nothing could make it _better_.

He hated it.

* * *

He has to tell Anna he won't be signing up for another year. And he hates it. Hates that he has to give up something he loves, hates that he has to put Anna in such a difficult position. Hates that he will have to do it over the _phone_, because Anna can't see him in his toddler form, so he has to call her, and he can't tell her in person and he hates and hates and _hates_-

His voice.

His voice is of a toddler too. How can he call up Anna if his voice sounds like a little kid's? She won't believe it's him and he just-

"George? _George_! Deep breaths now! Breathe with me. In," George takes a breath in, his breath hitching as he does so. "Hold." He holds it in as he feels the big hands around his own. He clutches at them tightly. "And out." He breathes out. "That's it. In," And on it goes.

It takes a while, but he manages to breath more easily, breaths coming more smoothly. He stares at his dad, crouched next to him and he blinks the tears in his eyes.

"My voice," George says weakly, his high voice cracking and faltering at the end. His dad hugs him and George clings to him.

He hates and he hates and he _hates_-[1]

* * *

Being in a toddler form was difficult. But George was certain he had it easier than the others. All he had to do was to say he was cursed and the magicals would simply nod and treat him like an adult (with small lapses, and even if George found it annoying and degrading, he couldn't blame them for slipping up at times - didn't stop him feeling wretched, of reminding him of what was and what he was _now_).

And the other Arcobaleno (or Arcs as his family called it, he still shuddered when he remembered Ron trying to pronounce Arcobaleno) were not magical, did not deal with the magical side and only did business in the non-magical world. George did not envy them. It was so difficult to do anything in the mug-non-magical world without a concerned bystander asking where his mum was. He considered saying he was a midget, but he wasn't simply a short adult, he looked an actual toddler - young face and all.

It was such a hassle. Maybe someone in his family had an idea? Alicia probably knew a few appearance alteration spells from the war, being one of the Undesirables. Or maybe Hermione? Wait, wasn't Katie really good at transfiguration and charm work? If they all put their heads together, George was sure they could figure something out.

* * *

Fred never ages in his memory.

And now, George will never age either.

* * *

George scowled at his family.

"I might be the size of a toddler, but that doesn't actually make me a toddler," he said firmly, or as firmly as someone could say when a small child was trying to grab at their hair.

"Teddy needs to socialise though," Gin said with a pout and George threw her a look, whilst distracting Teddy with a nearby dragon plushie. He squealed and then reached out to grab at it, saying "please give me Norbert!", his hair cycling to the red of the dragon.

"With actual kids not," here he waved at himself. "Isn't he signed up for school?"

"Mum homeschooled us," Gin said with a shrug. "Andromeda probably wants to homeschool him like she did Tonks."

"But there were a lot of us and we could talk to each other," he reminded her. "And Teddy would enjoy hanging out with other kids. Where's Harry?"

"He's helping mum out in the kitchen, something about having house elves at Hogwarts making him lazy? But Teddy would have problems at mu- I mean, non-magical school, what with his metamor- metamoph- metamorphmagus abilities and all," she said with a shrug, looking smug at her pronunciation of the word. 

"True," George admitted, picking up Anxiety Away and creating a little wolf that bounded within the ball. He then passed it to Teddy. "What's this Teddykins?"

"Moony! You maked Moony!" Teddy squealed, clutching the ball to his chest.

"Maybe there's a spell or a potion to help him keep to one shape," he suggested to her.

"Maybe," she turned to Teddy. "Teddy, could I have the ball please?" she waited patiently as Teddy considered Anxiety Away and then pouted. His face scrunched up as he reluctantly passed it to Ginny who beamed at him. "Thank you!" Teddy smiled back, previous reluctance forgotten. "Now, what's this?" Here, she changed the animal into a fat cat, the colours a nice shade of orange.

"It! It's! Mmm! It's Crooks! Can I have Crooks please?" He threw his hand in the air in excitement and then made grabby motions towards the ball and Ginny let him have it[2].

"But it's up to Andromeda in the end," she told George who nodded his head in agreement.

He jumped up from the playpen in one smooth motion, ruffling Ginny's head as he started to fall from the jump. He tried not to think about how much harder it was to just interact with others like before. He ignored the "hey!" from her. "I'm gonna have a chat with lil' Harrykins!"

* * *

Maybe the realisation that George comes to should have come earlier, maybe when he was playing with Teddy who was slightly taller than him, maybe it was then that he should have realised this. But it's only when little Victorie is born and she is cradled in her parents' arms that George realises it.

He will only ever get to hold them for the first few months since their birth. All the children his friends and family will have, will already be half the size of George when they're born and they'll just keep on growing. George in his small, useless toddler form, cursed to forever be this size will be unable to lift them up, to thrown them into the air and balance them on his hip.

Life was so _unfair_[3].

* * *

"Hey Georgie!" Gin beamed at him and instantly George was on guard. He eyed her suspiciously.

"Lil' sis'!" He threw back in a mocking tone. She twitched, but kept her innocent grin on. George was a master of innocent expressions and was not fazed. "What can I do for you?" He tilted his head at her, jumping onto the back of the couch to be closer to her height. Her innocent grin widened.

"I have a present for you!"

"A present. For me. Out of the goodness of your heart?" George gave her an unimpressed stare. By the amused glint in her eyes, George was sure that it came across more as a pout on his baby face. He really needed to practice this more.

"Of course I got you a present! How could I not get my favourite brother a present-"

"Gin, I know that Charlie is your favourite, because he's so warm and always lets you cuddle up to him for warmth during winter," he sent her a look and she made a face at him. Her hands were suspiciously behind her back, and when George shifted to see them, she would shift herself, hiding them. He gave her another look, just as ineffective as the previous one.

He sighed deeply, the sound resounding in his soul.

"Go on then, what is it?" She grinned and he just managed to catch a flicker of mischief in her eyes before she brought her hands forward and threw something at him, propelling it forward with a silent banishment spell. George yelped as he dodged, but the reddish-purple thing expanded and latched onto him, easily clutching onto his infant body. Big eyes stared up at him as tentacles gently curled around him. "What the-"

"Do you like him? He was abandoned at Magical Menagerie and he reminded me of you," Gin watched in amusement as the octopus waved a tentacle at him. "You always loved throwing stuff at the giant squid so I thought you'd like him too!"

"Gin, a squid and an octopus are different things ("They both have tentacles though and live underwater," she butted in) even if they both have tentacles! And I have no idea how to take care of an octopus!"

"But he likes you, look at him, cuddling you, isn't he the sweetest?" Gin said, pointing at the octopus, and sure enough it was cuddling him, even nuzzling him.

"This is a magical octopus," George stated more than asked, trying to pry the tentacles off.

"They weren't certain actually, but based on the intelligence he showed they guessed as much. Actually, Mr. Pelobates said that I was the first person he actually wanted to interact with."

"Then why don't you keep him?" He gave up on prying the tentacles away and the octopus seemed to buzz? Hum? In happiness.

"Well, I did say he reminded me of you. And sure, he let me pick him up and everything, but he didn't latch onto me like you. It would break my heart to separate the two of you now! And he's purple," she added the last part with a shrug and George just stared at her.

"Alright, first of all, he's red and not purple, you really need your eyes tested. Secondly, just because Skull is purple and my flames are purple, does not mean that I will like everything purple-"

"You and Hermione said that the flames are like a soul, your soul is purple and so is Oodako so that means you were destined-"

"He's not pur- You named him _Oodako_?"

"It suits him-"

"Gin, you are terrible at names - remember Pig? And no I am not keeping him-"

"Give him a chance at least! He's magical and sentient, so if nothing else you can always check if you aren't certain if he can eat something or needs salt water. Please George, I think it will do you good," Gin looked down at him, and George crumbled at seeing the concern in her eyes.

"Fine," he grumbled. "At least he's not a giant like the giant squid. Is he a baby or-?"

"Mr. Pelobates said he was mature and wouldn't grow any larger."

Oodako happily curled around his new human[4].

* * *

His dad entered the kitchen with a tired expression. He sat down at the table and reached for his cup of coffee as his plate filled with eggs, bacon and beans. A toast flew in his direction a few seconds later, butter melting on it. He took a few sips of his coffee.

"Morning George," his dad said, stifling a yawn as he glanced at him. He then choked on his coffee. He hastily coughed into the arch of his elbow, eyes watering as he glanced at George.

"Morning! You alright there dad?" George replied as his dad slowly stopped coughing.

"Since when do you have an octopus?"

"What do you mean, since when? I've always had Oodako," George frowned at him.

"Yeah dad, Oodako has been here for years," Gin also frowned at dad. "How could you forget him?"

Their dad paused, blinking the tears from his eyes away and then staring at Oodako with an expression of someone trying to place a person they have never met before on his face.

"Ah," his dad threw a confused glance at Oodako. "Sorry, I must be more tired than I thought." He stared at his coffee as if considering how much more he needed to drink to make the morning make sense.

"Oh kids! Stop teasing your poor father like that!" Mum came from the living room, swatting George's and Ginny's head as she passed by. They both squawked and stared at her indignantly.

"Mum," Gin whined. "You could have let us keep the gig up for a bit! I wanted to see if he would buy Geraldine the Goat we also had, or Rafferty the Parrot-"

"I believe I would have figure it out at that point," their dad said wryly, dipping his toast in the beans.

"Yeah Gin, we mighta have let you name a goat Geraldine, but Rafferty?"

"You let me name Pigwidgeon!"

"Nah, that was Ron and he's a doormat when it comes to you," George pointed out.

"George!" Mum scolded as she sent some more toast dad's way.

"Yeah, true," Gin shrugged. "Can't really argue with that one."

"But an octopus?" Dad said at last.

"It was Gin," George said with a shrug.

His dad raised his eyebrows high and then shook his head[5]. He tore a piece of bacon off and gave it to Oodako, who happily waved his tentacles in thanks as he ate it.

George furrowed his brows, staring at Oodako oddly and muttered to him "I didn't know you ate bacon."

* * *

He slowly goes out more in the non-magical world, even if it's awkward with his small body. He needs to get used to it. He usually goes out in a disguise, or throws a charm on himself, sometimes to distort his features so he looks like a midget, sometimes to make himself seem unimportant. He tries charms that make him seem like an adult, but he finds that people can go through him easily and dispel the enchantment when bumping into him. 

He wonders if Viper is having it easier than him, if they can make more solid illusions and walk amongst others. Maybe Viper has illusions, a way for their flames to suggest to others that they are an adult, or unimportant. He wonders if he'll ever get to ask Viper all that.

Very rarely, he wonders in his natural form, and he hates it. The looks he gets, the concern he receives and the frowns he sees when they notice his hair or piercings or make-up. He learns to look as though he's part of a family, to walk close enough to be considered a part of them, but not close enough for them to notice him. He learns when it's easier to go out, to mingle. He begins to understand that confidence and how you carry yourself is the difference between appearing like a lost kid and a kid that has been given a task by an adult.

He goes out and he learns and he _learns_.

* * *

"Gin! I thought you said he wouldn't grow!" George squawked, not that anyone could blame him.

The previously small octopus was half the size of the burrow. His tentacles were longer than the house itself and he happily gurgled at George, cuddling him close.

Gin didn't answer him, busy as she was laughing at him. She was holding her sides tightly as she collapsed onto the floor. George scowled at her as the octopus hummed all around him. Great help she was yeah.

* * *

"I can't believe I'm cursed for your wedding," George grumbled from where he was balancing on a chair next to Percy, trying to get Percy's hair to behave.

"Oh, but it will be like old times," Gin said, sitting of to the side and not helping Percy get ready at all. She took a swig of her champagne, watching in amusement as George wobbled slightly on his chair. "You could recreate photos of when-"

"Do not finish that sentence Gin." She rolled her eyes at him and Percy sighed deeply.

"Ginerva, don't antagonize him," Percy admonished. "He's working on my hair, not yours."

"That's cause he did mine with Bill already," she rolled her eyes again.

"Maybe you could go and check on Audrey, see how she's handling her parents and mum," George suggested, mind focused on the last details of Percy's hair, who jolted at the mention of Audrey, disrupting George's hands. "Hey! I'm going to have to re-do that part now!" He scowled at his brother's head.

"Yeah, I'm getting the hell out of dodge. I'll send mum this way." And with that she vanished from Percy's old room as George cursed once again.

* * *

"_Your every wish is my command, My fragile heart is in your hand, And now, at last, I understand, The magic about you!_" Celestina Warbeck's voice drowned out the noise of chatter and cutlery as Percy and Audrey danced together. George could see others taking to the dance floor. Harry was dancing with Ginny before Luna and Ron span in their direction and they switched partners, Ginny and Luna spinning away together, leaving Ron and Harry to dance with each other, which they did with shakes of their heads. Hermione was sitting out this one, watching the lot in amusement. George swooped in next to her, jumping up onto the chair and she gave him a smile.

"Not a fan of Warbeck," she admitted to him and he nodded his head.

"Neither's Fleur," George muttered, jerking his head to where Fleur was sat in the corner, nudging Bill to go and dance without her, as she covered little Victorie's ears so she wouldn't have to listen to the song. Hermione stifled a laugh. " I think she's about to use the excuse that little Vic is getting tired to get out of hearing her. But don't tell mum you don't like her, she loves Warbeck to pieces, but can never get tickets to see her," he said to her and she blinked at him.

"Really?"

"Yeah, she tried a few times, but they always get sold out," George shrugged his shoulders. "I think it's similar to what happens in the non-magical world. You have people buy huge amounts of tickets and when they got sold out, they sell them at inflated prices. Prices mum could never afford," he said with a furrow in his brow. Hermione grimaced.

"So she never got to see her? How long has she been singing for? 30 years?"

"Blimey, I'd say longer than that, she's over 80 years old-"

"80 years old? But she doesn't look a day over 40-"

"Wizards do age slower, you know-"

And so the evening went[6].

* * *

He could feel a tightness growing stronger in his chest. His throat began to feel clogged and- ah. He knew what this was.

He spared a moment to be glad that no one was home and legged it to his room, slamming the door shut behind himself. He grabbed the blanket and curled up on the floor next to the bed, displacing Oodako in the process. He took deep shuddering breaths as Oodako warbled at him in confusion.

He took a deep breath for 4 counts. He held it for 7 and then let it out for 8. He then repeated this.

Oodako was growing more worried, tentacles flailing as he tried to to take a look at George's face. George wanted to say he was okay, that this was fine but he couldn't. He could feel tears flowing down his cheeks and he did his best to concentrate on his breathing. He could feel the clog in his throat lessening.

"You're okay," he whispered to himself. "You're doing alright. Yes, deep breaths. In," he inhaled in and then held it. "Out," and with the word came out his breath. "No need to panic," he continued to breath in and out steadily. "You are safe."

Oodako watched from the side. George breathed for a few more minutes and then uncurled. Oodako instantly crept forwards into his lap. George let him, blanket drawn around his shoulders.

The octopus made a warbling sound, tentacles rising softly to brush against his cheeks.

"It's all good bud," he hugged the octopus tightly to his chest. "It happens sometimes. I'll be okay soon. I just need a moment." Oodako sighed and nestled into the hug.

They stayed like that for a while[1].

* * *

"When d'you reckon they'll come up with a new name for non-magicals?" George asks Fleur idly when she visits the next time. "It has been a few years since 'muggle' was banned."

Fleur shrugged gracefully, considering her pawns carefully. "I see no reason they need a new word."

"Wha'? But isn't non-magicals just boring?" Ron said, easily capturing Fleur's rook.

"That's what we call them in France, 'Non-Magiques', just non-magical, non-magic?" Fleur scowled at the board. "Americans say no-maj, non? There doesn't need to be a word for everything."

"She has a point," George said with a shrug to Ron, who scowled at him and Fleur both, tearing his eyes away from the chess board.

"Still boring though," Ron muttered at last, turning back to the board and waiting for Fleur to make her move. Which she did.

"Check," she said with a smile and Ron startled, focusing more intensely to try and stop her from taking his king[7].

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Footnotes_   
Click to skip footnotes
> 
> 1This is my experience of a panic/anxiety attack and is not reflective of everyone’s experience. People do different things to manage them, during (breathing exercises and touching/no touching), afterwards (a quiet moment alone, cuddling with a partner, eating some fruit etc.) and before as a preemptive measure (I used to take a beta blocker in situations I knew it was likely I would have a panic attack like my exams)[return1][return2]
> 
> 2Writing toddlers/young kids??? Hahaha, nope, just making stuff up as I go.[return]
> 
> 3I imagine the Arcobaleno being in the upper range of toddler age (which is between 12-36 months) and the average size of a 3 year old is around 3.1 feet (95cm) or so and the average newborn is around 1.7 feet (49.5cm). That means that any child will already be more than half of George's size and so he will be unable to hold them within a few months.[return]
> 
> 4Magical Menagerie is an actual pet shop in Diagon Alley! Mr Pelobates is an OC I made up and his last name comes from some species of toads.[return]
> 
> 5Arthur is finding some irony in the fact that George called Ron a doormat for letting Ginny name Pig, but in the next breath says that Ginny forced Oodako on him[return]
> 
> 6Celestina Warbeck is a canon singer, and in canon Molly likes her and Fleur hates her! The song is also sang by Warbeck. Warbeck is around 85 at this point actually and still going strong.[return]
> 
> 7Canon, in France they do use non-magiques and no-maj in the US. For Fleur, Brits must have looked well weird to have a specific word like 'muggle' rather than just non-magicals[return]
> 
> Welcome to Part III! As always find me on [tumblr as Dessmina!](https://dessmina.tumblr.com/) Thank you for reading, commenting and leaving kudos!


	8. Part III: Coping II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First things first: you can click on the footnotes! At the end of each footnote there's a return button which returns you to where you were, neat huh?
> 
> Secondly, hi, it's been a while. This should have been posted a week after the previous chapter, but some stuff happened and I wasn't in the best place to update this story (tl;dr: instead of visiting family for 2 weeks, I've been here 2 months counting bc borders are closed). It's weird being part of history when you're just an average person.
> 
> This chapter is quite light-hearted! There are moments of 'oh', but it's mostly bants, the next one gets a bit more hm. Enjoy!

At one point, whilst he was in his Skull mask, in Italy, one of the other Arcs found him. Viper stared at him. And Skull Well, he readied himself for a show.

When he first met Viper, one of the first things they told him was to use 'they/them' and not to waste their time as time was money. Didn't stop Skull from putting his mask on. He distantly wondered how much the miser would have him pay for deceiving them and wasting so much of their time on tracking leads that would be useless....

He mentally shook his head and beamed at them.

"Viper! Skull-sama hasn't seen you in a while!" He didn't specify that the last time they saw each other was on the fated day. He didn't need to.

Viper twitched and then sighed, glancing away from him to take stock of the surroundings. Their lips curled. George was hoping for that. George knew that the surroundings were not the best defended, that he could be taken by surprise easily. But Skull was a civilian that was a stuntman. He had no knowledge of war or paranoia to the levels George or the Arcs that lived by the mafia law would. So Skull had no problems with walking around here.

Not that he would often be in a place like this. The only reason he was, was because he knew that someone (without malicious intent) was trying to reach him, asking around subtly where to find him, if anyone has seen a small baby in purple. And as his family or friends would simply owl him and not ask around like that... that only left the people he met as Skull. And he had to keep up his mask.

Viper turned back to him and then their gaze alighted onto Oodako. They stopped moving, staring intensely at the octopus. And George knew that this was vipers show, pretending not to know he had an octopus until this moment, when in reality, the miser knew the moment they laid eyes on him - or got the information from someone. Still, Skull didn't know that. And so, Skull shifted from beneath Oodako, arms twitching, wanting to move and break the silence.

"A purple octopus," it was more of a statement than a question.

"Yeah! This is Oodako! Skull-sama's bestest companion!" He beamed at Viper who looked at him in silence. He wilted slightly. He quickly bounced back and smiled winningly at Viper.

"And what can the Great Skull-sama do for y-ow!" Skull yelped, holding his head in his hands and Oodako squeaked from his shoulders as they both slightly cowered away from the mist. They both looked at Viper with cloudy eyes.

"You haven't been in touch. We've been tracking you." George knew that they were unable to track him because of his magic, the precautions he took before visiting his family and his avoidance of the non-magical world. And he hasn't been in touch because well. 

He had enough reminders without staring straight at them, thank you very much. Skull blinked his watery eyes at them.

"Umm, well we got cursed and stuff-," Skull started mumbling, only to be stopped again.

"Meet us at this location, 7 o'clock sharp. Do not be late," Viper shoved a piece of paper that appeared from their flames towards him. They then threw him a glare "Make sure to burn the paper" and with that vanished, only the slight feeling that the mist flames tended to leave, letting Skull know how they got away.

He glanced at the piece of paper, making a show of it. He wrinkled his nose, letting out a 'bah!' and sticking his tongue out. Skull looked up from the paper and went on his merry way, the paper held in his hand, unburnt. He had a meeting to prepare for.

* * *

If there was one thing he really didn't miss, it was the way he was treated by the Arcobaleno.

"Eeeee!" Skull danced around the bullets, hands flailing as Oodako wrapped his tentacles around Skull's helmet, startled by the noise and Skull's reaction. "What's this for, senpai?" He dodged some more bullets, and then some extra kicks from not only Reborn, but also Lal Mirch and that guy that was there when they were cursed. Nel? Nelson? Colin? Whoever that guy was, he had really good aim, what the fu-.

"Who are you!" Skull screeched at the guy he was 75% certain was called Nel.

"Bah, not only are you late, but you don't even remember your senior's name?" His what now.

"My what now?" Skull asked him blankly and promptly yelped as a kick was aimed at him, again.

"Kora!" Skull let himself be tackled and the guy stood on top of him, pressing down with his foot. He could see the rest of the Arcobaleno idly watching this. Skull was glad he could provide such entertainment for them, he truly was. "My name is Colonnello, you useless maggot. And from now on, I'm your senior, which means that you have to listen to everything I say and follow all my orders!" Skull flailed and whined, whilst inside all George could do was curse. What was it with him and attracting violent weirdos? Can't they focus on someone else?

Somewhere in Italy, a small toddler, an heir to a mafia family, burst into tears as he felt a chill down go down his spine[8].

Skull whined some more.

"Enough," Viper snapped. "We are here to discuss the curse."

Colonnello scowled, but when Lal Mirch threw him a glare, he quickly got off Skull. He made a mental note to find out the relationship between those two.

* * *

He didn't want to say that the meeting was useless but...

The things he learnt were useless. Sure, he knew who the Rain Arcobaleno was, and that Lal wasn't it - and yeah she did get cursed, but it was different from them (and no, he was not bitter about that, he was _not_). He knew that Colonnello was taught by Lal, and probably had a crush on her, which led to him taking the curse for himself. 

No breakthroughs on how to break it. Or if there were, no one was willing to share it.

The meeting was useless

They agreed to meet up in a few weeks time once again, Reborn threatening him with a gun if he dared not to show up. What a pain.

* * *

Bored George was not a good idea. Which led him to pop by Ginny's apartment for tea. Which led to- 

"Ginny, I already have Oodako," George said, carefully eyeing the green toad? Frog? that his sister was cradling.

"I know! But Mr Pelobates had problems finding a home for it, people prefer toads over frogs," Ginny pouted at him as the frog focused its' eyes on him. It seemed to consider him. Oodako poked over his shoulder and raised a tentacle curiously towards it. It lunged.

George yelped as the frog seemed to flicker, becoming a bit yellow before settling on his shoulder, the one opposite to Oodako. He stared as Oodako turned his tentacle to once again face the other animal. The frog seemed to glare, honest to Merlin, _glare_ at Oodako who quickly hid his tentacle and retreated behind George's head.

"Okay, I guess you're coming with me," George said uselessly, as the frog gave him a dismissive glance. Right.

Ginny stifled a laugh behind her hand.

* * *

Did they really have to meet up again? George made his way towards the meeting place, early this time as to avoid the repeat of last time and the chance of Reborn seeking him out. He idly wondered if Lal Mirch would show up. He bounced inside the room and noticed that Viper was the only one there so far, counting their money.

"Skull-sama is here Vip-ow!" The frog (for which Skull still didn't have a name) used his face as a bouncing board to jump onto Viper.

Viper stared (or Skull assumed they stared, hard to tell with a hood in the way) at the frog in their arms.

"What is this?"

"It's a frog that Skull-sama has found, though it doesn't seem to like Skull-sama much as Skull-sama already has Oodako!" Skull gestured wildly between the frog, Oodako and himself. "I think you're the first person it seems to like. You can have it," Skull offered with a shrug and Viper slowly nodded their head.

"What's their name?"

"Never named it, only had it for 3 days and it hated every name I tried to give it! Froggy, Frisk, Toady-"

"Fantasma," Viper cut in and the frog titled its head. It then jumped up and settled on top of Viper's head. Skull could only stare as the frog accepted the name. Okay, so that's how it was huh?

* * *

"Ginny, I swear to fu- fricking Merlin," George hastily corrected himself upon noticing Teddy playing with toys in the corner of the room, who looked up in curiosity. George made face at him before turning back to Ginny. "You brought another one?"

"Listen George, there are many abandoned animals in this world," Ginny huffed at him, the little monkey tugging at her hair. She swattered it's paws? Hands? away from it. "And this time I didn't get her from Mr Pelobates, Luna passed it onto me. Said something like 'Skull will know what do with it'," her voice adapted an airy quality, clearly trying to imitate Luna. "She then refused to elaborate and asked if my mum had any fresh chicken eggs. As if she don't always have a dozen set aside for her," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"Chichens!" Teddy said gleefully from his play pen as the little monkey tried tugging at Ginny's hair again. When it was swatted again, it chittered angrily and then noticed George. George braced himself and wasn't disappointed when she launched herself at him, settling on his other shoulder. Oodako, still remembering Fantasma, slowly inched from behind his head to stare at the monkey. She gave him a curious look back, chittering at him in question. Oodako then- chittered back?

"I didn't know that Oodako could giggle," Gin said, eyeing Oodako.

"I didn't either," George then watched in fascination as Oodako seemed to repeat whatever sounds the monkey made. Right. Okay.

"Her name is Lichi," Gin offered at last. Okay. Right.

* * *

"That is the ugliest bag I ever had the misfortune of seeing," Reborn sneered at Skull, eyeing his expandable bag (not that he was aware it was expandable) in disgust.

"This is the most beautifulest bag in then entire world!" Skull fired back. "It contains many nice things!"

"Is your dignity in there?"

"Now now Verde, he did say nice things."

"Oi! Skull-sama has his dignity intact, thank y-ow!" Alright, what was it with animals and jumping from and to him? Lichi chattered at him as she bounced to Fon, who just entered the room. Fon, being the calmest and patient person George or Skull have ever met (sorry Moony) just let Lichi climb all over him. Only when she settled down on one of his shoulders, her tail curling around the other, still chattering away that did he send a questioning look at Skull.

Skull had a feeling that he would be becoming some kind of animal handler, what were the chances that he would find Oodako, Fantasma and Lichi within few months of each other, and that they would all go towards the Arc? He didn't fancy those odds at all. He didn't let his inner thoughts show and instead beamed at Fon.

"Lichi-chan here has picked you as her most favouritest person in the entire world!" He beamed at Fon, who was petting Lichi on her head.

"That is very kind of you Skull, but-" Skull did not let him finish.

"Of course! Skull-sama knows you will take the best care of little Lichi! She was abandoned you know, doesn't take to many humans well, but she really likes you!"

"I-"

"Are you going to give everyone animals, kora?" Colonnello asked, eyeing Oodako, Lichi and Fantasma in turn.

"Skull-sama doesn't do it on purpose! The animals find him and then leave him. He is but a messenger," Skull lamented to Colonnello and the room at large. He got a bullet fired at him for all his troubles.

The meeting ended uneventfully. Lal still didn't make an appearance.

* * *

"So?"

"So what?" Gin asked him, sat aside on the armchair with her eyes closed, kicking her feet in the air.

"Where's the next animal?"

"What makes you think I have another animal?" She fired back, eyes still closed. She started swinging them to a tune he couldn't hear. "You don't know me."

George scoffed at her and then yelped as a crocodile, an actual crocodile, appeared from behind Ginny's armchair. George could see her lips twitch as she still kept her eyes closed.

"A crocodile? Really?"

"I thought it was an alligator," she said idly, at last opening her eyes. She turned her head towards him as the crocodile/alligator started thumping its' way towards him.

"Honestly, all I know is that it's green, scaly has a long tail and a big mo-woah," George said as the croc chomped down on his clothes. "Let go you menace!" Gin didn't even bother stifling her laughter as the croc refused to let his clothes go. "Oh come on!" It refused.

"His name," Gin gasped out from between her laughs, choking slightly as she tried to get the words out "his name, is, Kenny."

"Kenny," George deadpanned, still tugging his clothes away from Kenny. "That doesn't fit him."

"An expert at animal names are we?"

"As if you have room to talk," Ron budged into the conversation, eyeing the croc cautiously. "Keep that away from me, would you George? I don't fancy it biting these robes, they're the only ones I like," he then turned back to Ginny. "Remember Pig?"

"His name is great, you're just a loser for not seeing it," she flipped him off and Ron flipped her off in return. "Going to a meeting?"

"Sadly, man, do I hate those things," Ron grumbled. George paid him no mind, eyeing the animal eating his clothes cautiously. He saw movement in the corner of his eye.

"Oodako don't even think of going near Kenny," George warned the octopus, who instantly retreated his tentacle, seeming to slump on his shoulder. Oodako then seemed to shiver as Kenny's eyes focused on him. Kenny stilled, watching Oodako carefully, eyes unblinking. He let go of George's clothes. "Kenny, don't eve-" Kenny lunged up and Oodako scrambled away with a squeak. George fell to the side with a yelp as the animals started running around the room, Ron jumping out of the way and Gin watching all the proceedings in amusement.

The animals wound their way around the room before Oodako made a break for the kitchen where mum was. All the humans' eyes widened.

"Wait- don't-!"

"_George!_"

* * *

Skull eyed the alligator/crocodile warily. He then put his hands on his hips and stood in front of it. Kenny threw him a dismissive glance and turned his head to the other side. Skull moved so he was standing in front of him again.

"You listen close mister!" He waggled his finger at Kenny, who ignored it. "No eating of other animals in the room!" Kenny's eyes suddenly focused in his direction and Skull beamed at having the animal's attention, and he continued, unaware of the person behind him. "Maybe biting some of the humans... But! No! Animals!" Oodako waved his tentacles in tandem with Skull's words, but when Kenny glanced at him, cowered, and hid away again, drawing the tentacles close to his body.

"...Why are you talking to the caiman?" Verde asked from behind him and Skull squeaked, jumping high into the air and then twisting to face both Verde and Kenny. Kenny was considering Verde very seriously and a lumos lit up George's brain.

"Aha! So he's yours then! And what a lovely name you picked for him, Keiman!" And with the skill of Molly Weasley, he overrode any of Verde's objections. "I was wondering who he was here with." Skull conveniently ignored the fact that Verde just saw him scolding the croc- caiman. "Make sure to keep him away from Oodako-kun! Skull-sama heard they eat octopi," he said the last part in stage whisper, leaning slightly towards Verde and covering Oodako with one of his hands.

"First of all, it's octopuses, not octopi. And caimans eat fish, he has a more specific taste than your grubby oct-" He then caught himself. "Wait, this is n-"

Skull gave a yelp, looking at his wrist. "We're going to be late for the meeting!"

"You don't even have a watch to be looking at!"

* * *

It's been 5 years since the war.

Since Fred.

He misses him.

* * *

"Is it a cheetah? A wolf? A-" Ron was interrupted by Hermione slamming her book shut from next to him, below the tree's awning.

"What are you guessing, Ronald?"

"The animal Gin is going to dump into George's lap," he said with a shrug, watching Ginny avidly.

"Sorry to disappoint, but I have no animals," she pouted at them. George stopped chucking the small ball that his hands could barely hold onto into the air and looked at her.

"Really?"

"Hey, it's difficult to look for them all the time!" She defended herself. "Mr Pelobates had no new rescues. And Luna just gave me a smile, saying something like 'soon a little burning islet, a star above the something something sun will appear' and then she refused to add more!"

"It sounds familiar," Hermione said with a frown. "I think I heard this before, isn't it a line from a book or poem-"

"What I want to know, is how did she remember it so well?" Ron muttered to George, eyeing Ginny suspiciously. Ginny looked back at Ron and made a face at him.

"It sounds like the animal will find its way to us sooner or later," Hermione mused, opening her book again.

"How about never?" George mumbled, laying back on the grass and closing his eyes against the sun's glare. "How's work treating you 'Mione?"

"Could be better," she said wryly. "A lot of people stuck in their ways, but we are managing." There was something in her voice that had a part of George, perking up, like a bloodhound smelling blood. 

"Whatever you plan on doing, make sure it's untraceable. And remember it's only illegal if you're caught. You don't want to repeat Gringotts," he said idly, eyes still closed.

"You're one to talk! Who nearly gave mum a heart attack because she looked a the clock and saw your hand on the prison?" Ron scoffed at him.

"It was a learning experience," George countered. "And part of the plan."

"The plan where you were bait?"

"Okay, listen up you-" George's eyes popped open to glare at Ron only to stop.

"Oh, no comeback-"

"What is that," George said, staring up at the sky. "Is it just me, or is it circling us?" The others paused and looked up. A moment of silence.

"It's defo circling us," Ginny said. "What bird is it? An eagle?"

"Nah, doesn't have the head for it. And they're not native anyway," Ron piped up.

"Well, that's about all I know about large birds apart from owls. Oh wait! Maybe a hawk?"

"No, I don- Is it diving at us?" And indeed the bird was fast approaching. One of them, George wasn't certain who, cast a shielding spell, and the bird bounced away from them. It ruffled its feathers and tried again.

"The Falcon!" Hermione said triumphantly from where she was sat.

"Oh, I'm glad you figured the species out," Ron snarked at her, summoning his wand. "Maybe you could focus on it trying to attack us."

"Oh Ron, Luna was quoting a poem called The Falcon! This bird is probably the animal she was talking about!"

"I'm not going to be the first person to talk to it," George said immediately. "Have you seen me? It could pick me and Oodako up like a rodent and swallow us up!"

"He's got a point," Gin said, watching the falcon bounce from the shield in amusement. "I'll do it!"

"Honestly Gin, you're as bad as Charlie," Ron muttered, watching her approach the bird cautiously.

"No one can be as bad as Charlie," George pointed out and then amended himself. "Maybe apart form Hagrid."

"True," Ron shuddered, as though remembering a memory long past[9]. "Gin seems to be doing alright," Ron said warily.

"Probably all the time she spent hanging out with Charlie and listening to him-_hippogriff dung_-!" George yelped as the falcon swooped at him. Oodako squeaked from his perch and instantly tried hiding form the predator. "Stop that! Oi!"

"Stupefy!" Ron tried casting, only for the falcon to do some fancy manoeuvre. He tried again, only to get the same result. George dived to hide behind the others as Ginny ran after the falcon, Ron still casting spells at it. This was going to take a while[10].

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Footnotes_   
Click to skip footnotes
> 
> 8Yes, this is Dino. Poor Dino, you have no idea what's coming for you...[return]
> 
> 9He's thinking of Aragog the Acromantula[return]
> 
> 10The lines: "a little burning islet, a star above the coming sun" are from a poem by James Russell Lowell called 'The Falcon'[return]
> 
> If you think something deserves a footnote, feel free to comment or send me an ask on tumblr, I have anon on. As always, you can find me on [tumblr as Dessmina!](https://dessmina.tumblr.com/) I post stuff I like, little snippets and sometimes timelines/family trees for the story! So if you want to know more about the story, feel free to browse my 'dnsamgaw' tag and to read comments as I tend to answer them and drop random information! Thank you for reading, commenting and leaving kudos!


	9. Part III: Coping III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you know you can click on the footnotes and that at the end of EACH footnote there's a button to return back to where you left off? Nifty, huh? You can also wait until the end to read them too, that's fine too :D
> 
> Hello! Long time, no see :D The long wait is because I'm looking at parts IV and V and feeling dread. I need to check out the arco trials and future that never was arcs etc., but I don't want to. But I forgot some details so it would be better if I did refresh my memory, but I don't want to. Do you see what I have to put up with?
> 
> But apart from that, the whole jkr thing has also made writing for hp more difficult for me. It's fun to play around in this world, but do I hate her. Trans lives matter, and seeing her comments just shriveled up some of my motivation for hp fics (sadly this one included, even if it's a crossover). No worries, I am slowly getting back, and if i just happen to be more upfront with some of my LGBT+ headcanons in this fic...

* * *

"Hello George! Did you hear what Harry did?" His dad asked, settling on the armchair opposite George's.

"Did he catch another snitch in his mouth?" George asked, eyeing the falcon perched in the corner on the bird stand warily. He couldn't wait for the next Arcobaleno meeting to get rid of it.

"Afraid not this time," his dad replied wryly. He swished his wand and a piece of parchment came flying towards George, slowing down as it reached him. The falcon watched it carefully, as though considering whether to rip it into shreds. George threw it a look.

George plucked the parchment out of the air, keeping an eye on the falcon and read it.

Huh.

"Huh," he said to his dad. "That's really great actually!"

"What's gre- ah, why is everyone always so surprised," Harry grumbled, lips twitching into a wry smile as he got a look from George. He settled down on the couch between the two armchairs, taking the parchment which read 'Hogwarts Summer Home' away from George and throwing a look at the falcon.

"Ah, dear Harrykins," he got a grimace for his troubles "Why I still remember the days you were shorter than me-"

"A real achievement at this point," Gin said, passing by with her broom. George flipped his middle finger and Gin stuck her tongue out in response, making a detour to stroke the bird's head, before she disappeared outside to fly. His dad pretended not to notice and George threw the bird a dirty look.

"-shorter than me, with your messy hair, and glasses askew and-"

"Is this going somewhere?" Harry said, his cheeks starting to turn an uncomfortable red. He got ignored. 

"-and too large clothes, and you looked at us- at me with those big eyes, and we-I gave you the map and you then had it taken away by Snape! Imagine our-my horror!"

"Hey, it was Remus who kept it-"

"-The betrayal! Here we are giving you our secrets and you just, give them to Snape. Real low blow. But behold! Dear Moony, one of the greatest pranksters of all time, was there, and weren't you lucky-?"

"I still don't get the point of this," Harry said at last.

"There is no point," George shrugged his shoulders. "I just felt like making fun of you."

He easily dodged the throw pillow Harry chucked at him, flinging it back towards Harry. 

"But a summer home huh?" He asked after they settled down. "What gave you the idea?"

"The Dursleys sadly," the both shared a grimace, and George could see his dad frowning, probably remembering the time they picked Harry up for the World Cup. "And Snape actually," another grimace. He paused and his face scrunched up some more. "And with further thinking, Voldemort too."

"Who would have ever thought that a summer home for kids would open up, because of Snapey and Voldie-poo," George mused as his dad choked on nothing.

"I can't help, but to think what could have been, you know?" He then continued, not letting George butt in. "They had shitty upbringings, and saw Hogwarts as their home. The one place they felt safe and loved, because where they lived didn't give them that. Every child deserves a loving home, or at least a home where they feel safe," Harry said the last part quietly. George stayed quiet, feeling that there was more he had to say. "I had you lot, and sometimes I think, what if I didn't? Would I be like Snape, or Tom? It haunts me sometimes, how alike me and Tom were."

"But you're not the same-"

"By a twist of fate," Harry's lips twitch into a grimace. "I want to give every kid in Hogwarts the chance to feel safe. To have a place they can stay and be accepted. Merlin knows I wanted that chance as a kid," Harry said at last and George smiled at him. Harry smiled back and they both made the decision to move onto something less heavy.

"Where you're going to have it?"

"Grimmauld Place, no really," he said upon seeing Geroge's look. "Kreacher managed to clean it up, and we found a way to take down the portrait of Mrs Black-"

"First of all, how is the old bugger still alive? Isn't he pushing it already? Secondly, how'd you manage that? Do you know how many hours we spent discussing ways of getting her down-?"

"We got rid of the wall actually," Harry grinned at George.

"Damn! I wish I was there to see it, did she scream? Well, of course she did, that's the only thing she did," George said with a dreamy smile. "May her portrait rest in pieces."

Harry snorted, choking on nothing, whilst dad chuckled slightly.

"Are you going to change the name?" Dad asked Harry curiously.

"Yeah, not sure to what yet, I'm open to suggestions."

"You'll think of something. Need any help setting stuff up?"

"You certain?"

"Even if I didn't want to help, let me tell you, I'm bored out of my mind between the Arcobaleno meetings, WWW shifts and the odd potion request. Have some pity on a lost soul," George looked up at Harry with big eyes.

"Fine, but stop making that face. It looks creepy on you, too innocent," Harry eyed him warily as George jumped up and gave a whoop of delight.

He then yelped and ducked as the bird dived towards him.

"Oh, for fu-"

* * *

"Alright, listen up," Skull said warily towards the bird, who just preened their feathers. "You just go to your Arcobaleno and leave us be, yeah? Yeah," he put a hand on Oodako, who was cowering in the hoodie Skull specifically wore just for this purpose. The bird squawked at him and Oodako hid further in the hoodie. "I'm going to take that as agreement."

"Did this turn into a zoo when I wasn't looking kora?" Colonnello asked him with a scowl. A scowl which disappeared as Skull could see him stifling a squawk when the falcon decided to fly towards him. "Hey! Get off you birdbrain!"

"Well, you're part of this zoo now," Skull grumbled quietly, watching in glee as the falcon bullied Colonnello in letting it sit on him. At least he wasn't the only one to be bossed around by them."You have to name it and all."

"Name it?" He asked, still batting the bird away. "I don't know how to name it!"

"Just pick something. It's a bird, a falcon, I'm sure you can think of something," Skull waved his hand carelessly. It wasn't his problem. "Ow-! What!" Skull yelped and dodged the bullet Colonnello managed to fire his way. What a pr-

"Falco, kora! That's your name, so you better get used to it!" Colonnello said to, Falco.

Falco.

"You, called it Falco," Reborn deadpanned and okay, Skull was not here to agree with him. He was here to cause mischief and headaches! To make them question the wisdom of inviting him over! Not to agree with Reborn. The name was so bad that for once both Reborn and Skull were on the same page.

"It's a perfect name for a birdbrain like this," Colonnello grumbled, at last letting the bird settle.

Whilst Falco - and what a dumb name, honestly, even Gin was better at names! - was settling on Colonnello's head happily, Skull looked over to see how the other animals were doing. Oodako was slowly peeking out from his hoodie. Lichi was chittering at Fon. Fantasma was napping on Viper's lap. And Keiman-

"He's small!" Skull pointed accusingly at the much smaller caiman. Keiman continued to nap on the table. Skull saw how it was, he would become smaller for other people, but he had to drag the caiman in full size everywhere, because it liked to see him suffer-

"Yes, I have noticed that Keiman can change depending on the output of my flames," Verde replied, ordering the papers in front of him into some sort of cohesion.

Fon and Viper seemed to perk up, although Skull was certain not many would catch onto that.

"You've been feeding him your flames, kora?"

"Yes, they have a good effect on him. He likes them."

"Right..." Skull trailed off, dubiously staring at the animal. He could see Colonnello eyeing Falco up, considering how big the falcon could grow.

Well, that was enough interaction with these people for one day, if not the rest of the month.

* * *

"Yo Harry! You seen Gin?"

"Hi George. Yeah," Harry nodded, shifting papers around him. George briefly wondered if those were the papers for the Summer Home, but then shook that thought away. "She's practising for the try outs-"

"The Quidditch try outs? Who has she ruled out?" George waved his wand and the books (wobbly) made their way to the chair next to Harry. He then jumped up and settled on them, pacifier bouncing and Oodako waving a tentacle at Harry in greeting. Harry waved back, idly tossing a blueberry into his mouth.

"Well, she doesn't fancy joining Wood in Puddlemere United[11], she very soundly shut down Ron when he said Chudley Cannons," the two shared a grin. "She doesn't want to get into the whole Arrow-Wasps rivalry-"

"So we won't see her in Appleby Arrows blue or the Wimbourne Wasp black and yellow?"

"Afraid so," Harry said wryly, quill put to the side. He nudged the fruit bowl towards George and he happily munched on some strawberries. "One of her friends has been trying to persuade her about the Kestrels, but well-"

"They're Irish," the two chorused together.

"Who else did she shut down?" Harry mused to himself, brows furrowing.

"What about the Falcons," George twitched whilst asking, mouth full of strawberries. He was still not over Falco's arrival.

"I think she decided Falcons weren't for her," Harry sent George both a sympathetic look and an amused smile. What a dic-. "I think she's hoping for Tornadoes or Harpies," Harry said.

"Those would be a good fit, especially the Holyhead Harpies[12]."

"I said as much to her before. Wait, were you looking for her?"

"Oh yeah," George scrunched up his face, absently stroking Oodako and passing him a blueberry. Oodako blubbered in thanks. "I wanted to see the last animal she has for me."

"For one of the Arcs? Which one is it?"

"It's the Fedora guy," George kicked his legs, letting them hit the books he was sat on. "I hope this one is better than the last one."

"I don't think she has any," Harry admitted.

"Ohh, it better not be another Falco!" George grumbled to himself.

"But," Harry's lips stretched into a smile. "I do think I have one."

"That doesn't sound like good news," said George, eyeing him up.

"Ron said to pass him onto you-"

"It's a him is it-"

"Let me just-" here Harry reached into his shirt pocket, and George noticed the small bulge in it. He grasped the animal and then gently pulled it out to reveal a-

"Lizard?"

"A chameleon," Harry said, gently reaching out to pass him off to George. George gingerly picked him up and the reptile considered him curiously.

"Does he have a name?"

"Teddy has been calling him 'Leon', but I think that's because it's easier to say than chameleon," Harry said, watching the two interact.

"I think we have enough obvious names with Keiman and Falco," George decided at last, letting the chameleon climb onto his shoulder where Oodako was. The two settled peacefully together.

"Oh, so you two get along then," of course Reborn's animal would get along with Oodako.

"Gin will be disappointed this one didn't attack you," Harry remarked. grabbing some more blueberries.

"Well, Gin can go lick Demiguise's butts," and with that, George put his attention towards the reptile. "Maybe after I give you to Re-Fedora, then the meetings will stop," George grumbled to Leon quietly..

"That bad, huh?" Harry asked, fixing his glasses. He shuffled the papers a bit closer with some reluctance.

"You have no idea! It's not like we do anything! I have literally gone to the meetings, had a chat, gave the animal and then legged it! We don't even talk about the curse, or the progress any of us made with it," here he simmered down, quieting down for a few ticks. "You know, I don't think any of them are making progress," he admitted quietly. "And that's why all the meetings feel so..." he trailed off.

"Stagnant? Without aim?"

"Yeah," George blew out a breath. "But none of them want to admit it, so they say nothing about it."

"That's kind of dumb," Harry admitted. "Sounds like us in school."

"But we're not in school anymore, We're not kids," George scowled down at the animals on his shoulder. The reptile simply flickered his tongue at him and Oodako pretended to be asleep. Real helpful. "They should be able to say, 'hey, we are getting nowhere with this, maybe we should do this' but instead they sit in silence or say something general like 'I'm working on it'! They don't want to be the first ones to speak up and admit it, because they are the 'best' and so arrogant! It's been nearly a year since we met up in our cursed forms, a year!"

"You could always start it off?" George blinked.

"I think they already know that I know nothing; not mafia here!"

"Yeah, but you haven't actually said it, have you?" Harry reasoned, flicking some of the lettuce at the chameleon, who caught it with his tongue, eyes flickering to focus curiously on Harry. "Sometimes people know stuff, but it doesn't sink in until they or someone says it," Harry shrugged at George. "Maybe you could be the nudge they need."

"Yeah, maybe," he said unhappily at last, arms crossed over his chest.

"You know, you say they are arrogant for not wanting to speak and admit it, but what about you George? When will you speak up?"

"You know," George scowled at Harry, flicking a blueberry at him. Harry caught it with his mouth. "This whole professor thing made you way too wise and preachy. Ever consider just agreeing with the complaining and being like 'ah George you are absolutely right, you should prank them'?"

Harry flushed, scratching his cheek as he sent George an apologetic look.

"Sorry George. Ron mentioned something similar earlier."

"Nah," George waved his hand. "You're right. Which just makes it really annoying, you know. I think I'm going to check on Gin and let you go back to-" here, George waved his hand at the piles of papers next him "-to this. Have fun, do everything I would do!"

"Yeah," Harry sighed, watching George jump down from the seat, the books flying back to their place. "I wish I could" And with that, Harry went back to his papers.

* * *

"You're getting a lawyer for the summer home?" George asked, skimming over the documents as Leon dozed off to the side. The Arcobaleno meeting wasn't for another week and so Leon was stuck with him for a bit longer.

Harry hummed, his hand tangled in his hair as he waved his wand. A stack of papers came zooming towards him, which he passed onto George.

"Hermione recommended it, she said something about taxes and then she went on, but I'll be honest, the moment she said taxes, I already made up my mind," Harry said wryly, and George could relate, mind flashing back to the money he made for his shows. He skimmed over the documents and did a double take.

"Andy! Andy is going to be your lawyer?"

"Yeah," Harry waved his hand, a smile tugging on his lips. "When I proposed the idea she was instantly on board."

"Of course she was, Andy is great like that," George sniffed haughtily at Harry. As if Andy wouldn't agree. "But I did think she wanted to change professions, after Ted..." George trailed off and Harry gave him a grim smile.

"I think she's partly doing it because of Ted, but I didn't really ask. Not my place you know. She has her reasons. She did say she was hiring Cho Chang as a junior? Or an intern? Something like that to help her out and eventually to become one of the partners," Harry switched subjects, not subtly, but in a way that grabbed George's attention.

"Oh, Cho Chang is it? The wet kiss ey?" George wiggled his eyebrows, making a kissy face with his lips and Harry paused, staring at him with a slightly weirded out expression.

"Don't... don't waggle your eyebrows," he said, staring at his face warily. "Or make that face actually. It's... a bit weird seeing a toddler do that."

George grimaced.

"Glad I didn't have to see that for myself to be honest," George admitted.

"You never know, maybe one of the Arcs will do that," Harry offered and George made a face, sticking his tongue out.

"Let us hope to Merlin it never comes to pass," George muttered and Harry laughed at him. "Oh, I nearly forgot, you didn't tell me Neville was going to teach with you!"

"Oh yeah, Nev. Pomona has been training him up for ages. She always talked about him in the staff meetings, so I'm not that surprised," Harry said with a shrug, attention mostly back on the papers. "We need an accountant to manage any donations and the income and outcome stuff," Harry mentioned off-handedly and George wrinkled his nose.

"Sprout always did have a soft spot for him, she sometimes talked about him in Herbology," George mused. "And accountant? The only ones I know are Sickle, which I wouldn't recommend," George briefly imagined Viper helping out with a non-profit and shuddered. Yeah, [13]. "And Katie's friend, Leanne is nearly an accountant, so you could ask her. Or hire someone that Andy recommends."

"I think she saw Nev as a grandchild. Sickle is definitely out. Nearly an accountant? So like a junior?"

"I think so? I dunno how the accounting career works."

"Yeah me neither. I'll have a look around. I'd rather it be someone we know though, rather than some random person," Harry said, flicking his wand and making some of the papers fly away, only to be replaced by some others. "I want to get them before we submit any registration papers. At least we have the location set, and no one will oppose us opening a Summer Home with all of us on board and recommendation from Minerva."

"Imagine a lackey from Ministry going against McGonagall," George said, absently setting his own papers to the side. Harry winced, hiding a grin. George grinned back at him. "When's Bill arriving?"

"Hopefully this weekend. I really don't want any children entering the house without it being looked at by a curse breaker."

"What else is on your mind?" George blurted out and Harry startled, making some of the papers fly into the air and float back down gently.

"What'd you mean?"

"You've been more stressed out than this deserves, and you have way too many papers here, some of which I can see you hiding from me," the last part was said with a pointed look towards a pile of papers not far away and Harry flushed, tips of his ears turning pink. "Is there something going on?"

"Ah, it's, um, I promised not to talk about it yet," Harry admitted, sending him an apologetic look.

"So it's your hero complex rearing its head," George said with a sage nod, face blank. Harry chucked one of the scrunched up papers at him, which George flicked back. Harry dodged it, letting it fall on the ground behind him.

"It's a good thing, I promise!"

George eyed him dubiously, mind flashing back to Harry's entire life.

"You know what, I'll leave that for Ron or Hermione to sort out," George decided at last. Harry made a face at him. George made a face back.

* * *

As it turns out, Reborn has the naming skills of Colonnello and ickle Teddykins. Skull mournfully watched Leon settle down on the brim of Reborn's fedora, tongue flickering. Reborn didn't deserve the goodness that was Leon, he truly didn't.

"And you complained about Falco's name," Colonnello grumbled, trying to shift Falco's head away form his hair. Skull briefly hoped that Falco messed up his hair so much it would stand out in odd directions, before focusing back on the Arcobaleno.

"Leon is a dignified name, rooted in deep history, unlike your name of Falco," disdain dripped from Reborn's words as he looked down at Colonnello. Not that it was intimidating considering the fact that he was a toddler. Skull wrinkled his nose, guessing that he probably looked like the same whenever he glared at anyone - not threatening in any way.

"Say that to my face, you-" his face turned a deep red as he glowered at Reborn, his small face scrunching up and looking, cute. Not terrifying or threatening. Just cute.

They all looked... pitiful.

They were sat in the same seats as always. Lal Mirch wasn't present again, hasn't been since the first meeting actually, not that Skull blamed her.

Okay, maybe he did a bit, but he kind of understood it too. She was like them, but not entirely. Sure, they all held pacifiers, but hers was different. She could still age. Granted, very slowly, but the people in this room, they didn't have that. For her, if the curse wasn't broken, no problem, at some point she would be back to her old body. But them? Not unless they found a way out.

Not that that was going any better. Skull swore that Verde was staring at the same page since the beginning of the meeting, Colonnello and Reborn were arguing as always (that is if they weren't busy hitting him and firing bullets at him), Viper wasn't even looking at stuff related to the curse! Skull could clearly see them looking at some ledgers. Which made sense, seeing as Viper was all about 'time is money' and they certainly weren't going to waste their time here by looking at nothing.

Actually, Skull was surprised that Viper hasn't mentioned anything about these meetings being mostly useless. He covertly eyed the mist, and then quickly abandoned the action when he could see them starting to look up.

He jumped out of his seat, twirling in the air and then landing on the table, hand on his hips as he posed, barely above the height he was at when he was seated. Oodako posed with him, his tentacles settling around his head.

"Skull-sama is bored," he whined at the other Arcobaleno. "We do nothing here at all! Skull-sama's sources have turned up nothing about the curse at all!" He got glares for his troubles, Reborn sending a bullet his way without looking, that Skull dodged with a yelp.

"As much as I hate to say this," Verde said, eyes focused on his research. "My research has yielded little results when it came to the curse or pacifiers as well." He grimaced, looking up to glare at Skull, as though it was his fault. Rude. "They contain our flames, siphoning off them."

"There have been other Arcobaleno," Viper said as Fantasma jumped out of their lap to settle on the table. "They were cursed under different circumstances." 

"Arcobaleno are renowned as the Strongest of the Flame users," here Reborn glared at Skull, who pouted at him. Rude. Why was everyone so rude? He started this discussion! "In the past they have settled disputes between Famiglias."

"The role became useless with the Vindice entering the field, kora," Colonnello added in, watching Falco ruffle his feathers and stare at all the other animals in the room. Skull briefly hoped that he managed to train most of the aggressiveness out of the bird.

"There is not a lot of information on what happened to past users," Fon sipped at his tea, brow burrowing. "Some speculate that they ceased to exist. Others that they still walk the earth-"

"Ghosts don't exist, kora!" Colonnello scowled at the storm and Skull had to withhold a twitch. Ghosts, huh? He could see Viper carefully not looking in Colonnello's direction "Or zombies! Or whatever else you're trying to say!"

"Flames exist, this curse exists," Fon countered calmly. George envied his calm attitude, but then decided that would be a boring life, just calmly rebutting everyone. "Who knows what else could exist out there?"

"We could ask Luce," Skull piped up, stopping Colonnello from firing back. They all stilled, gazes focusing on Skull as a stilted silence overtook them. "Wha-ow!" He yelped as Colonnello aimed a kick at him.

"Where were the intelligent people in this conversation at, kora?" He asked the room at large.

"Oi!"[14]

* * *

Slowly, the meetings dwindle down. They separate, go their own ways and meet up rarely, if never. Skull feels no regret over it (_ and George tells himself he feels the same-_).

Years pass and his friends and family are growing, ageing and living their lives. He can see the wrinkles on their faces slowly forming, he can see the grey slowly find its home in their hair. Whilst George stays as he is.

He's alright with it.

He is.

.

.

.

_End Part III._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Footnotes_   
Click to skip footnotes
> 
> 11Oliver Wood did get scouted for them in canon![return]  
12These are real teams that can be found in Quidditch Through the Ages! In order of appearance: Puddlemere United, Chudley Cannons, Appleby Arrows, Wimbourne Wasps, Kenmare Kestrels, Falmouth Falcons, Tutshill Tornadoes and Holyhead Harpies.[return]  
13It's mentioned at the end of Part II that George gave nicknames to all the Arcobaleno so he could talk about them without revealing their identities. Sickle (as in the wizarding money that goes into a galleon) is Viper's nickname.[return]  
14Luce is not in the Arcobaleno's good books, as they know that she knew that they would be cursed. They hold a lot of resentment for her right now - even George/Skull, even if he did propose asking her for more information.[return]
> 
> If you think something deserves a footnote, feel free to comment or send me an ask on tumblr, I have anon on. As always, you can find me on [tumblr as Dessmina!](https://dessmina.tumblr.com/) I post stuff I like, little snippets and other writing I do! Thank you for reading, commenting and leaving kudos!


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